Foreign Credentials Research Articles

Later life employment: Benefits and challenges experienced by older immigrants from Sub‐Saharan Africa living in Georgia

AbstractThis study examines the integration of older African immigrants in the United States through work, which provides them autonomy in later life. The study utilizes qualitative data from 27 older African immigrants from Sub‐Saharan Africa living in Georgia. The older adults are 55 or older and immigrated to the United States after 1990. The participants are from five countries (Cameroon, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, and Zambia). Their ages range from 55 to 85 years old. There are 18 men and nine women. Six participants had doctoral degrees, nine had master's degrees, six had associate or college degrees, six had vocational training, and some had college, secondary, or primary education or no formal education. Eighteen participants were employed full‐time. I apply thematic analysis to highlight emerging themes. The findings demonstrate the importance of the push and pull factors in determining immigrants' decisions to migrate in later life. Other findings highlight the challenges older adults, especially African immigrants, encounter to remain active and gainfully employed. The challenges include problems of language and accent and the classification of foreign credentials in the job market. The participants expressed the necessity to work because of family and societal obligations or perceived obligations back in their countries of origin, most notably the desire to achieve autonomy in later life. This paper contributes to the literature on the diverse aging population by expounding on the contributions made by older immigrants in the workforce, their families, and society. With the information acquired from older African immigrants, we can continue advancing policies that address the concerns of our diverse aging population. Policies should aim at training that targets older adults from diverse linguistic, educational, and cultural backgrounds. Policies should also lay out clearer pathways to financial independence, including education on the role of social security and other safety net programs for older Americans. Policies must reflect the importance of healthcare in later life, so healthcare policies should address issues on cultural competencies in training healthcare providers and educating older adult immigrants on navigating the healthcare system.

Multicultural hospitality and immigration in Winnipeg, Manitoba: Host–guest dynamics

Relying on qualitative data obtained from newcomers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this article critically examines hospitality, specifically host–guest dynamics, with special attention to cultural discontinuities and contentious policies on foreign credentials. In particular, this article sheds light on the contested nature of hospitality practices, thereby moving beyond the notion of vertical power relations between the nation state as host and immigrants as guests to acknowledge the existence of everyday reciprocal practices of welcoming and supporting one another, such as those occurring in ethnocultural communities. In order to highlight the challenges related to the implementation of the principles of hospitality, we begin by making a brief presentation of the dimensions of this concept and by problematizing multicultural hospitality with special attention to critical multiculturalism. Based on qualitative data, we then problematize hospitality with special attention to social relations and cultural discontinuities. Finally, we conclude with a discussion on guest and host factors in the concretization of multicultural hospitality with and for immigrants.

Exploring the Experiences of Highly Skilled Immigrants in Career and Technical Education

ABSTRACT Immigrants are more likely to arrive in the United States with lower levels of education, resulting in lower-status jobs, leading to lower incomes and less accumulation of wealth. However, a segment of the immigrant population enters the United States with the expectation of contributing immediately and directly to the country’s economic advancement: the highly skilled immigrant. Unfortunately, many cannot gain recognition for their foreign academic or occupational credentials while in the United States. For many, career and technical education, or vocational programs, have been helpful. Utilizing the acculturation framework, this study explores the experiences of ten highly skilled immigrants with credentials from their home countries who could not gain recognition for their credentials in the United States. This study further examines the motivations that led them to enroll in career and technical education programs in the United States. The findings from this study presented the themes of (1) Inability to continue in the previous career, (2) High cost of graduate degrees in the United States, (3) Difficulties in transferring foreign credentials, (4) Immediate employment opportunities after career and technical education program completion and (5) Age/Adult learner.

Sustainable tourism development from the perspective of digital communication

Tourism-related enterprises around the globe are shifting more towards environmentally friendly services. This research provides a theoretical discussion and aims to assess the continuous digital communication activities of tourism business players tiny and medium-scale companies and give an overview of their existence in digital communication technology. This research focuses on determining the concept and various sustainable performance indicators. The data were collected directly from official websites, accommodation booking applications, and social media. This research adopts a matrix dimension to build a database and analyse the meaning of words in the relationship between meeting visitor needs, service quality, cultural wealth, community welfare, and resource efficiency. The research uses the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) approach to test the model that has never been stretched and grouped using heterogeneous techniques. The findings revealed that foreign credentials were less adaptable for local credentials than one-off credentials and that fewer enterprises rate eco-labels on online advertising. The rate of participation of society on the platform was seen to be more complex and intellectual. This research is one of the first to investigate the resilience mechanism in the tourism industry firms. It is anticipated that this research would encourage more studies on the principle of contact and the quality of SME strategies in hospitality and contribute to the drive to facilitate broader acceptance of managerial implications.

Adult tertiary education and migrants’ coping strategies in the German labour market

ABSTRACT Literature on returns to education and labour market outcomes has been increasingly focusing on skill missmatch with regard to migrants’ integration and adaptation processes. Researchers have studied the efficacy of official validation of prior skills as well as participation in training and vocational programmes as valid resources to expand labour possibilities in the host country. Fewer studies, however, account for the returns to adult higher education, in particular how formal credentials influence skilled-job chances and labour status. In this study, I hereby investigate the effectiveness of host country qualifications against the backdrop of miss-match and under-value of prior qualifications in the new labour market context. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study, I compare the effects of tertiary education degrees between immigrants holding German degrees and those who only possess foreign credentials on their occupational outcomes in the local market. I find that the chances of obtaining a professional job that matches individuals’ skills as well as their occupational status are higher for those with local qualifications. This suggests that local capital in form of tertiary education pertains ‘valid’ credentials that help migrants to achieve better outcomes in new labour market contexts.

Temporality and space in highly skilled migrants’ experiences of education and work in the rural north of Sweden

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to critically explore and analyse opportunities and obstacles faced by highly skilled migrants in rural areas seeking to re-enter their profession, focusing on the lived experiences of migrants residing in northern Sweden. Analysis of their stories focusing on intersections of temporal and spatial positionings reveal different lived experiences and opportunities depending on migration regime and policy, gender, age and family situation, profession and labour market needs. However, similar challenges also emerged related to rurality such as rural dismantling and poverty of access to (and support for) both adult education generally and specific fast tracks for highly skilled migrants, with accompanying risks of deskilling and marginalisation. The stories also indicate that the rural idyll tends to provide closer social networks than those in cities, thereby increasing opportunities for re-entry to former professions. However, workfare policies and devaluation of foreign credentials lead to requirements for re-education to re-enter former professions or undertake other work (high- or low-level) that are particularly difficult to meet in rural settings.

Refugee women’s establishment in the rural north of Sweden: cultural capital in meeting local labour market needs

ABSTRACT This paper investigates opportunities and obstacles refugee women face in establishment in rural areas. Drawing on ethnographic research in three rural municipalities in northern Sweden, including interviews with refugee women, local employers and educational staff, I analyse the women’s space for agency and opportunities to use and capitalise on different resources in relation to the local labour market and belonging. Applying Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of cultural capital, as read by Skeggs, I show that the women can capitalise on embodied cultural capital of feminine and ethnic caregiving. However, due to lack of the ‘right’ institutional cultural capital of educational certificates from Swedish institutions, and devaluation of foreign credentials and experiences, this is mainly in difficult-to-fill, unsecure jobs in the elder care or early childhood education and care sectors. The women’s limited options and opportunities to ‘enterprise themselves up’ contribute to ethnicisation of care work in rural labour markets. Moreover, lack of mobility and key cultural capital (cars and driving licences) for work, education and belonging in both the local masculine culture of the remote rural areas and national gender equality culture further limit the women’s space for agency and establishment.

'Small Gold Mine of Talent': Integrating Prague Spring Refugee Professionals in Canada, 1968-1969

Following the August 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, 11,200 Prague Spring refugees were resettled in Canada. This movement included many experienced professionals and skilled tradespeople. This article examines how these refugees navigated language training and barriers to employment, including professional accreditation, and examines how this experience shaped bureaucratic and public views of refugee integration. The focus of this article is primarily on resettlement and integration efforts in Ontario, since roughly half of the Prague Spring refugees were permanently resettled in the province. The article outlines how, as part of its efforts to help the refu- gees with their economic and social integration, Canadian officials provided assisted passage, initial accommodations, help with securing Canadian employment, and English- or French-language training. Prague Spring refugees navigated professional obstacles, including securing accreditation of their foreign credentials and underemployment in their respective fields. Their successful resettlement and integration depended on intergovernmental cooperation between Canada and its provinces, and the assistance provided by local Czech and Slovak communities across the country.

“You are not as localised as I need”: employability of Chinese returning graduates

PurposeInternational student employability has been accorded increased emphasis in the internationalisation agendas, especially in major destination countries as it shapes universities' attractiveness to prospective international students. Having insights into returning graduates' employability in their home country has become critical given that a majority of international graduates return home after their overseas study. This study responds to this critical need by examining how foreign credentials are valued by employers in the field of accounting in China, based on in-depth interviews with employers, alumni and policymakers.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on a qualitative approach involving literature review and in-depth interviews with 28 key stakeholders: employers, returning graduates and policymakers in China and India. The key research question of the study is how foreign credentials are valued by employers in the field of accounting in China and India. This article focuses on the Chinese context. In-depth interviews with employers and policymakers focused on eliciting nuanced socio-cultural understandings as to perceptions and decisions associated with desirable graduate attributes and the relative value of credentials. Interviews with returning graduates aimed to understand how different capitals were mobilised to gain employment in the Chinese labour market.FindingsThe empirical findings of the study show that Chinese returning graduates could be seen to lack the localised knowledge needed to work in Chinese companies and ability to adapt to the local environment. However the possible development of a dual local and international guanxi through overseas study can be regarded as a marker of distinction in the home labour market. The associated value of such a dual guanxi signals the importance for Chinese international students to develop transnational networks while simultaneously maintaining their kinship, social and business networks locally during their overseas education.Originality/valueThe study provides fresh insights into a marked shift in China, with less of a preference for Western credentials, as compared to 10 years ago when overseas credentials were often regarded more favourably. Even though overseas study generally provides Chinese graduates with an exposure to international practices and global perspectives, whether such an overseas exposure and foreign language competency would be an advantage also depends on the business needs and sometimes the business model of organisations.

Foreign Credential Recognition and Immigrants’ Chances of Being Hired for Skilled Jobs—Evidence from a Survey Experiment Among Employers

Abstract A large body of empirical research has demonstrated that foreign education is a major cause of ethnic disadvantages in the labor market. However, there are few insights into how these disadvantages of foreign training can be effectively countered. To improve skilled immigrants’ access to positions commensurate with their foreign qualifications, several countries have introduced policies to officially recognize foreign educational credentials. In this study, we examine the extent to which having recognized foreign credentials improves immigrants’ chances of being hired. To identify the causal effect of foreign credential recognition on immigrants’ chances of accessing adequate jobs, we focus on employers’ hiring decisions. Using vignettes, we simulate a hiring process and show randomized profiles of applicants to employers who then rate how likely they are to invite the applicants to a job interview. Our central finding is that having recognized foreign credentials considerably narrows but does not completely close the gap in the hiring chances between foreign- and native-trained applicants. Moreover, we find that the extent to which applicants benefit from foreign credential recognition varies with their occupational experience but not with the quality of the educational system in which they were trained. We conclude that whereas foreign credential recognition is a promising tool to highlight immigrants’ skill potential and reduce the disadvantages of the foreign-trained in the labor market, it hardly harmonizes the hiring chances of native- and foreign-trained applicants.

Integration at work: Migrant healthcare professionals in two Spanish hospitals

Abstract Organisations’ logics play a crucial role in the integration of immigrants. This article aims to contribute to the relatively unexplored field of immigrant integration in organisations by analysing the workplace integration of healthcare professionals in two Spanish hospitals. Analysis shows how the lack of an official integration strategy in Spain does not seem to have significantly affected inclusion mechanisms of healthcare migrant workers in two large Spanish hospitals. Organisations’ internal logics indeed represent a relevant variable to understanding the process of integration and how conflicts can be de-escalated in organisations. As interviews reveal, workplace integration is not perceived as a cultural problem to the extent that healthcare professionals adapt to the way of working and establishing relationships in each hospital. Differences among professional categories are more important than ethnic diversity since immigrant integration is considered a question of professional rather than cultural assimilation. Yet, major obstacles to immigrant integration seem to proceed from the existing barriers to permanent employment of third-country nationals and cumbersome administrative procedures for foreign credentials recognition.

Asymmetric Information and the Discount on Foreign-Acquired Degrees in Canada

Abstract A growing wage gap between immigrant and native-born workers is well documented and is a fundamental policy issue in Canada. It is quite possible that wage differences, commonly attributed to the lower quality of foreign credentials or the deficiency in the accreditation of these credentials, merely reflect lower wage offers that immigrant workers receive due to risk aversion among local firms facing an elevated degree of asymmetric information. Using the 2006 and 2011 population censuses, this paper empirically investigates the effects of wage bargaining in labor markets on the wage gap between foreign- and Canadian-educated workers. Our results imply that a significant part of the wage gap between foreign-educated and Canadian-educated immigrant (and native-born) workers is not driven by the employers’ risk aversion but by differences in human capital endowments and occupational matching quality.

The Effects of Recognition of Foreign Education for Newly Arrived Immigrants

AbstractWe analyze the effects of formal recognition of foreign higher education on employment probabilities and earnings for newly arrived immigrants in Sweden. Prior research has found that immigrants have lower returns on education if it was acquired in the country of origin than if it was acquired in the host country. One reason for this is that foreign credentials work poorly as productivity signals and risk-averse employers avoid employees with credentials they do not fully understand. A formal recognition statement can help overcome this problem by providing credible information about the foreign education, thus reducing uncertainty. Data consists of immigrants who, within the first ten years of residence in Sweden, had their foreign degree formally recognized during 2007–2011. Using fixed effects regressions, we estimate the treatment effect of official recognition to be 4.4 percentage points higher probability of being employed, and 13.9 log points higher wage for those with employment. We also find considerable treatment effect heterogeneity across subcategories of immigrants from different regions of origin, with different reasons for immigration and who obtained recognition during different economic conditions. Our conclusions are that the mechanism of employer uncertainty is real, and that recognition does reduce it. But as the signal of foreign education becomes better, other mechanisms such as human capital transferability problems and quality differences, and the ability to use foreign human capital, become more salient, leading to heterogeneous effects.

Foreign-Born Adults’ Participation in Educational Activities: Evidence From Europe

This article demonstrates that foreign-born adults in Europe tend to participate less in adult education activities compared to native-born adults living in the same country. However, this is mainly explained through the job-related nature of nonformal education. Foreign-born adults tend to participate more in formal adult education than native-born adults in a range of countries. Based on analyses using data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Programme on the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), this article shows that participation rates in European countries are mainly determined by adults’ educational attainment and having a job and that countries with overall high participation rates have higher participation rates among foreign-born adults as well. Exploring the participation in adult education of foreign-born adults in European countries is important, as it is known that those adults perceive difficulties in finding a job and having their foreign credentials recognized in the new country context. Participation in adult education courses might help them in learning new or maintaining their already existing skills.

The Earnings of Immigrant and Native-Born Men in Canada: The Role of Social Networks and Social Capital

ABSTRACTUsing data from the Canadian General Social Survey (2008), this study considers the role of social networks in immigrants’ earnings. Despite higher levels of education, immigrants continue to earn less than native-born Canadians. This paper shows that social network characteristics are associated with earnings net of the effects of human capital and visible minority status. Social networks are important for understanding immigrants’ earnings both as a direct cause of employment disadvantages and as a force that exacerbates the disadvantages that immigrants face due to racial discrimination, a lack of proficiency in Canada’s official languages, and/or discrepancies over foreign credentials. While most current data on immigrant networks is limited to specific ethnic groups, cities, and/or occupations, the present study contributes to scholarship by generalizing data to all immigrants in Canada. This study also expands the temporal scope by comparing immigrants who arrived in the 2000s, 1990s, and earlier. Future research and public policy should put greater emphasis on the role of social networks in the economic integration of new immigrants.

Is your name “Canadian” enough?

Name-based discrimination is a continuing reality faced by ethnic minorities in Canada, regardless of their Canadian or foreign credentials.

Returns to Human Capital and the Incorporation of Highly-Skilled Workers in the Public and Private Sector of Major Immigrant Societies: An Introduction

Across the major immigrant societies of the European Union, EU-15 countries, migrants and minorities still experience economic disadvantage. This failure of economic integration poses significant questions about the utilization of human capital, the management of mobility and the competitiveness of European labour markets (Cameron, 2011; OECD, 2017). Using a variety of datasets, this special issue pushes the debate forward in several ways. We will consider the integration outcomes of both migrants and second generation minority members in comparison to majority members. Labour market outcomes will be considered broadly: the probability of employment but also overqualification will be taken into account. Offering both analysis of single country cases and a cross-national comparison, the special issue will build a comprehensive picture of the factors associated with labour market disadvantage of migrant men and women, and their descendants—particularly, differential returns to foreign qualifications and educational credentials, differences between public and private sectors placements, and where possible the period of the economic crisis will be examined as well.

The returns to UK degrees for foreign‐educated graduates

Exploiting information on foreign qualifications for the first time, we estimate the returns to obtaining UK higher degrees for foreign graduates who migrated to the UK in their 20s. Accounting for direct measures of foreign and UK qualifications and country‐of‐origin fixed effects, we find substantial returns to obtaining UK (higher) degrees on hourly wages and occupational attainment for both genders, working mainly through occupational attainment. However, there is strong evidence that the effect of the high returns is driven by immigrants from countries where English is not a dominant language. Moreover, returns to UK (higher) degrees are more pronounced for graduates from low‐HDI/GDP countries, suggesting an important role for the incompatibility of education and skills between home and destination countries. We further examine the robustness of our results by using a partial identification method, and our findings suggest that the extent of selection on unobservables required to eliminate a positive treatment effect is too large to be plausible, especially for men. Our study extends previous research with the first evidence from the UK, by showing large positive effects of post‐migration investments in human capital acquisition on labour market outcomes. Obtaining UK higher degrees appears to reduce the informational uncertainty associated with foreign credentials, facilitate cultural and economic assimilation, and boost economic opportunities for foreign graduates, especially for those developing/poor country immigrants.

Do Asia-Pacific Region Universities Need a Recognition Framework for Foreign Educational Credentials? Implications of Survey Data from Japan

This paper explores whether Asia-Pacific universities deem it necessary to systematically evaluate and recognize academic qualifications and credentials obtained in foreign countries. The international framework for facilitating the recognition of foreign qualifications was established by UNESCO. The Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education 2011 was entered into force in February 2018. However, only a few of UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific member states have ratified it. Considering the rapid internationalization of higher education in Europe, the slowness of some Asia-Pacific states to establish a recognition framework for foreign credentials is a mystery. This paper explores the idea that Asia-Pacific countries’ universities do not feel a need to systematically evaluate foreign credentials because their international student bodies are small. The results of questionnaire surveys in Japan imply that the progress in internationalization seems to be key to extending foreign credential evaluation to the UNESCO Asia-Pacific member states. A focus on promoting student mobility in the region might encourage ratifications of the Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education (Tokyo Convention).

INTERNATIONALLY-EDUCATED ENGINEERS’ INSIGHTS INTO THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES EMBEDDED IN THE CANADIAN ENGINEERING PROFESSION

Drawing from data collected as part of a larger study, this paper focusses specifically on internationally-educated engineers’ (newcomers to Canada) insights and experiences of the social role and social responsibility inherent in the Canadian engineering profession. The study participants were individuals who had completed a formal foreign credentials recognition process through a qualifications recognition program at the University of Manitoba, and who have achieved professional licensure in Manitoba. Data were collected from 23 internationally-educated engineers through long one-on-one and group interviews over a period of two years. The work uses a conceptual framework of professional practice as the development of moral conscience. The data demonstrate that through engagement with the regulatory process including right-to-title, right-to-practice, and the Code of Ethics, and through one’s day to day engineering practice, participants assimilated an understanding of the practice of professional engineering in Canada as being rooted in a professional community with explicit and stable social responsibilities.