International Graduates Research Articles

Imagined Communities of Chinese International Graduates in Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACTThe rapid increase in the number of international graduates seeking employment opportunities in host countries has been accompanied by a corresponding growth in related discourse regarding how international students could successfully benefit from post‐study work visa schemes and whether or not they are ‘career‐ready’ in local job markets. This study focuses on the linguistic capital among international graduates during their study–work transition processes. The qualitative analysis highlights that international graduates encounter various language‐related challenges during their transitions. However, their increased investment in English could not be simply interpreted as actions to overcome the language‐related challenges that they had encountered but was also for gaining access to their imagined communities, achieving non‐linguistic goals and employment outcomes. The study draws implications for understanding how international graduates could be better accommodated and encouraged to participate in the wider communities in their host countries. This is important knowledge, as enhancing employment outcomes is not only a goal for students pursuing international education but also of critical interest to countries seeking to sustain the international education industry.

Preparing a Globally Competent Workforce: A Mixed Methods Study of an Innovative Co-Curricular University Program

Problem Human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners have long sought ways to develop employees to meet the needs of globalized workplaces. However, given that many employers expect employees to possess global skills before they begin working, it is incumbent upon HRD educators in higher education contexts to develop and implement innovative programs to enrich global competence, which includes the knowledge, skills, experience, and mindset required for global work. Solution This mixed methods study describes and explores the efficacy of an innovative co-curricular program, the Global Competence Enrichment Program, designed to enhance the global competence of American and international graduate students enrolled at a higher education institution in the United States through a mutual intercultural learning process. Stakeholders Stakeholders include HRD scholars and practitioners as well as organizational leaders interested in designing and implementing HRD programs around global competence enrichment.

Performative Facework During Graduate School: International Graduate Student Parents’ Navigation of Work and Family Precarities

This paper examined how international graduate student parents (IGSPs) engage in performative facework to deal with their non-normative parent identity in graduate schools in the United States. Participants engaged in sedimentary facework to perform the ideal graduate student face. IGSPs’ sedimentary facework perpetuated their own marginalization as they disciplined themselves to “hide the children” and avoid receiving “special favors.” Nevertheless, sedimentary facework provided face cover that enabled IGSPs to actually have children in practice. A few IGSPs worked with mentors who advocated work–family integration and engaged in subversive facework that disrupted the child-free norm of graduate students, thus cultivating the potential for individual resistance and structural change. Taking a feminist intersectional lens, we unveil how participants’ performances of the ideal graduate student face are entrenched in intersectional precarities to problematize the dominating workplace ideology privileging neoliberal productivity over personal and family well-being.

International graduates of social work in Australia: A longitudinal study of those who struggle to develop professional identity

International graduates of social work in Australia: A longitudinal study of those who struggle to develop professional identity

Mid-career outcomes of doctoral graduates from German universities explained through triadic thought

ABSTRACT This article critically examines the early career experiences and mid-career outcomes of domestic and international doctoral graduates from public German universities in the social sciences and humanities over two decades. We develop triadic thought as a spatial theory to conceptualise professional careers as situated coproductions in the complex interplay of career considerations, career praxis, and career environments. Drawing on qualitative interviews and the analysis of mid-career outcomes, our theoretically informed findings identify three formative influences on career decisions: first, the discursive normalisation of an academic career; second, the practical normalisation of shifting career goals; and third, the material normalisation of a public sector habitus. To mitigate the reinforcement of a congested academic labour market and striking tensions between individual career challenges and systemic benefits of temporary jobs for institutional and national productivity, we encourage a Bologna-style reform to create compatible academic career structures within Europe.

Down and out but undeterred: A narrative on utilizing the new mobilities paradigm for contraint-based methodological research as an international student during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in Australia that inhibited the mobility of residents across the nation. While keeping many from leaving the country under a Covid Zero policy, the lockdowns also kept numerous international students from entering the country to commence their studies. Such disruption led to major constraints for a plethora of doctoral students and their graduate research projects. The constraints brought on by pandemic disruptions especially impacted every stage of the graduate research experience for aspiring ethnographers. Such challenges ranged from the stressful navigation of Covid restricted international travel, working around the university bureaucratic runaround in an ever-changing pandemic scenario, to discovering and utilizing the new mobilities paradigm to construct a doable thesis project under strict timelines. The reflective narrative presented here is a small contribution to the greater collection of stories about international graduate researchers making the most with very little during a constraint filled period of academic history.

Sociocultural adaptation process of international graduate students at a university in southern Chile

ABSTRACT Chile has a growing migrant presence, including at universities. As migration involves adjusting to new demands, this study aims to understand international graduate students’ sociocultural adaptation in a southern Chilean city using qualitative phenomenological research. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were analyzed via interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings show migration decisions are influenced by home country social factors and academic/cultural growth objectives in Chile, impacted by contextual, cultural, social, and intrapersonal elements. Students manage threats using emotional regulation, acculturation strategies, and sense-making coping. Supportive social environments also protect, offering valued conditions. In conclusion, adaptation involves individual coping strategies and host society social factors. The paper discusses recommendations for future research.

Mentoring global talent: an integrative review

PurposeThe international mentoring literature predominantly features traditional company-assigned expatriates as protégés overlooking other types of global talent, such as immigrants, refugees, and international graduates, who may help organizations gain long-term IHRM competitive advantages. We integrate multidisciplinary research to better understand the role of mentoring as a global talent management tool, identify research gaps, and propose future research directions.Design/methodology/approachWe draw on an integrative review of 71 academic journal articles published between 1999 and 2024 to explore the role of mentoring in managing global talent (i.e. expatriates, immigrants, refugees, and international students and graduates).FindingsWe found that research has identified and examined relationships between various antecedents and outcomes of mentoring but mainly treating mentoring as a talent development tool. Less is known about the role of mentoring as a recruitment and selection tool in the pre-employment context. Mentoring is an important HRM tool that contributes to managing a global talent pool and developing existing employees.Originality/valueThe review contributes to a better understanding of the characteristics and processes involved in mentoring in a global context by proposing a framework that incorporates antecedents of mentoring, characteristics of the mentoring process, and mentoring outcomes. It highlights the value of mentoring as a recruitment and selection tool supporting global talent management and identifies avenues for future research.

The role of social support and socio‑demographic factors in predicting intercultural adjustment among Malawian international graduates in China

The role of social support and socio‑demographic factors in predicting intercultural adjustment among Malawian international graduates in China

Shared Perspectives: ABA offers AEP for International Graduates, and ASA Showcases New Career Pathways

Shared Perspectives: ABA offers AEP for International Graduates, and ASA Showcases New Career Pathways

Peer Feedback’s Impact on the Writing Self-Efficacy of International Graduate Students

Peer Feedback’s Impact on the Writing Self-Efficacy of International Graduate Students

A conceptual soft skills competency framework for enhancing graduate intern employability

PurposeThe paper aims to close a literature gap by proposing a comprehensive conceptual soft skills competency framework for enhancing graduate intern employability through the cultivation of employability capital.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a theoretical inquiry and delved into the existing literature on employability, soft skills competencies and employability capital to establish a comprehensive foundation to formulate the conceptual framework. A content analysis of existing empirical studies was conducted to derive a generic list of employers’ required soft skills. A Delphi technique was employed to harness expert consensus and insights into the derived framework.FindingsEmployability capital can be cultivated in the setting of work-integrated learning programmes and synergised through emotional and social intelligence interventions to enhance soft skills competency and graduate employability.Research limitations/implicationsThe soft skills identified may overlook other important skills required by employers. Increasing participation in the Delphi study could yield additional valuable insights. Validation of the framework is needed in practical settings to understand its effectiveness and applicability to real-world organisational needs.Practical implicationsThis study significantly enhances understanding of the role of employability capital in soft skills competency development and graduate employability through work-integrated learning programs and self-development. In addition, the framework has the potential to positively impact the employer-employee relationship.Originality/valueThe key theoretical contribution is a soft skill development framework that offers employers and graduates a means to identify and address deficiencies through WIL and self-development.

Theoretical Approach to the Labor Skills of International and Latin American University Graduates: A Systematic Review

Theoretical Approach to the Labor Skills of International and Latin American University Graduates: A Systematic Review

Im/Mobilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from International Graduate Students Studying in the Southern United States

Im/Mobilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from International Graduate Students Studying in the Southern United States

Proposed Knowledge Transfer Key Factors Model in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions

Knowledge transfer entails not only the transmission of information, but also the transmission of experience, best practises, and learning. This combination, known as tacit knowledge, is well recognised as being extremely difficult to articulate and record, but it is invaluable in adding depth and context to information to provide a richer understanding. As a result, ensuring an effective knowledge transfer process necessitates significant dimensions such as human capital skills and values, knowledge type, knowledge transfer methods, and organisational support. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence the implementation of knowledge transfer projects in Malaysian higher education institutions. Based on the comprehensive literature review and pilot study findings, the study identified Higher Institutions of Education (HIE) Capacity, Academia Capability, Graduate Interns Capability, KT Partner Organization, Relational Elements, Technology Augmentation, External Factor, and Knowledge Transfer Mechanism as the primary factors influencing KT project performance. Aside from that, the study suggests that the Knowledge Transfer Mechanism and government policy play a mediating role in the proposed model.

An Update on the Independent Plastic Surgery Match (2019-2022): Trends, Predictors, and Program Leaders' Perspectives.

A previous study by the authors noted a decline in independent plastic surgery residency programs and rising applicant participation. This study provides updates on match trends and influential predictors, and gathers program leaders' views on the future of the independent track. Match data (2019-2022) were obtained from the San Francisco match after American Council of Educators in Plastic Surgery approval. Variables influencing match success were analyzed, and program leaders were surveyed about desirable applicant traits and program trajectories. From 2019 to 2022, 243 of 428 applicants matched. Programs and positions declined by 10% and 9.5%, respectively. Applicants rose to 42.3%, but match rates fell from 82% to 56%. Osteopathic graduates doubled, whereas international graduates increased to 53.8%. Successful matches were associated with US allopathic medical school graduates, university-affiliated general surgery residencies, eight or more interviews, United States Medical Licensing Examination scores greater than 230, and high post graduate year (PGY)1-3 American Board of Surgery In-service Training Examination scores (PGY1-64.7%, PGY2-61.2%, PGY3-60.7%; P < 0.05). Of surveyed programs, 55.6% aimed to continue running the independent track in the next year. Conversely, 7.4% planned to discontinue in the next year, 22.2% within 2-5 years, 7.4% within the next decade, and 7.4% were unsure. Although support for the independent plastic surgery track remains, program participation diminishes as applicant interest increases, intensifying match challenges. Increasing number of interviews improves match potential. Program leaders display varied commitments, with looming plans for some programs to discontinue offering this track. Applicant evaluation pivots on strong recommendations, research, and test scores.

Analyzing In-Depth Study of Southeast Asian Graduate Students: A Qualitative Approach

Studying abroad can be a transformative experience, but it often presents significant challenges. Southeast Asian international graduate students, in particular, face considerable academic and cultural hurdles when transitioning to U.S. higher education. These stressors, including language barriers, financial difficulties, and academic adjustments, can negatively impact their mental health and academic performance. This study aims to illuminate these challenges and identify effective support strategies. It is essential to recognize the diverse experiences of Southeast Asian American (SEAA) students, who are included in this study. The SEAA community is rich in culture and heritage, contributing significantly to the U.S. landscape. This research seeks to understand the unique challenges faced by SEAAs and to foster a more inclusive academic environment. This study has identified key academic and cultural stressors by examining the experiences of Southeast Asian international graduate students. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted support services to enhance student well-being and academic success. It is crucial to shift from a deficit-oriented perspective to one that centers on the voices and experiences of SEAA students. By listening to their stories, higher education institutions can develop effective strategies to support their academic journeys and create a more inclusive campus community.

Strangers in the North: Critical narratives on the postgraduation career transitions of international doctoral students

AbstractData show higher enrollment of international graduate students compared to undergraduates in the United States in 2022, with the trend expected to continue. Many international doctoral students pursue education in the United States, hoping to seek employment and/or employment‐based permanent immigration after graduation. Through critical personal narratives (CPNs), the authors use their stories to reflect on employment‐seeking experiences during their time as international graduate students. The narratives depict a 20‐year time span of ongoing issues faced by international graduate students. These first‐person accounts authentically recognize the challenges and provide an avenue for institutions to subsequently address the areas of immigration policies, hiring practices, career development, and cultural responsiveness for international doctoral students.

“What are you looking for in a candidate?” The career search process for international students in higher education student affairs

AbstractThis study examined lived experiences of two international student affairs professionals in the United States. Through a series of interviews, the dialogues unfold rich narratives that explore the multifaceted journey from academic preparation to career placement in the field of higher education student affairs (HESA). It also underscores the unique challenges encountered by international students compared to their domestic counterparts during the job search process. Given the limited research pertaining to the experiences and support for international graduate students during the job search process in the field of HESA, this study provides valuable insights and implications for educators, institutions, and career support services to better address the needs of the diverse and growing demographic of the candidates.

International graduate students: Unique stories and missing voices in higher education

International graduate students: Unique stories and missing voices in higher education