Practical Initiatives to Develop International Students' Employability Skills

Us

Ricky Lowes - Lecturer

Siwan Tyack - Careers Consultant Mohammad Goudarzinasab -Student

Aims of session

We shall describe how academics and the Careers and Employability service at Plymouth University are working together to support the development of international students’ employability skills via: • campus-wide services and events for international students • specific curriculum support for modules seeking to embed employability

• We will report on student response to these developments and show how

one particular student has used his time at Plymouth to develop employability competences.

Employability

‘turbulent career environment’

Employability: ‘…work specific active adaptability….that enhances an individual’s likelihood of gaining

employment.’

(Fugate et al, 2004)

Employability & HE

Department for Business Innovation and Skills (2011) recommends all HEIs should have an employability strategy and should consider compulsory elements of employability in degree programmes

Employability & international

students

Siwan Tyack Careers Consultant

Context

FIGURES FOR 2015/16 ENROLEMENT:

• 22,992 students enrolled

• 1,769 (7.7%) identified as international students*

• 699 (39.5%) from China/Hong Kong

*inc. EU students

Plymouth Careers and

Employability offer

• Careers & Employability team incorporates careers

guidance, placements team, employability support,

student jobs and Jobshop

• Each faculty has a link Careers Adviser

• We deliver a range of campus wide and faculty specific

events throughout the year

Specific Challenges for

International Students

• As with all students, international students need to be

‘career ready’ when they graduate

• Cultural awareness

• Some employers may be put off recruiting international

students if they feel that the process is difficult

Plymouth University provision for

International Students

• International orientation week

• Global Employability Week

• International Student Employability conference

• International Students Advisory Service (ISAS) sits within

the Careers and Employability service

• IBM challenge

Developments/strategic aims

• Collaboration in research led by Dr. Rong Huang

“Engaging international students in employability

activities”

• Dedicated Careers Adviser for International Students

• Development of links between ISAS and Careers service

webpages

Our job: to skill students in

awareness and self-efficacy

English Language Centre

Modules

English for International Finance develops interview skills and evidencing of skills and experience via CAR technique – the oral assessment is a job interview English for Global Communication – transferrable skills via a consultancy project: group work, understanding other cultures, communication skills, project management, conflict resolution, self-management, learning how to learn, evidencing skills via CAR technique. English for Academic Purposes – Career Development Project

We are supported by our relationship with the Careers & Employability Service

The project

Synergies

Under-pinning

language skills

Research and writing

Intercultural team work

Interaction with informant

Synergies

Language skills

Employability awareness

Evaluation

For a graduate to stand the best chance of securing occupations in which they can be satisfied and successful, it is essential that they receive some education in career development learning. (Dacre Pool and Sewell 2007 p 284)

Whether the project had any value for students in terms of raising their awareness of the factors that

affect career development.

Method

Questionnaire Feedback

Analysis of students’ work

Questionnaire

48/50 students completed the questionnaire.

Gave insight into their previous career plans and whether or not these had changed, and their level of confidence about planning and managing their career.

Showed only 25% had engaged with the Careers and Employability Service outside the module.

Indicated that the project can be considered to have had a positive effect in raising their awareness.

Findings

Thematic analysis of 10 Essays

• Q: What factors, both personal and external, can influence the

development of a person’s career? Which of these factors are

particularly important for you personally, and why?

Theme Example

Theory 14

According to Krumboltz’s planned happenstance theory unpredictable opportunities will come up and have a large impact on career development

Personal development 10

This project allowed me to analyse my personal situation, reassess my goal and aspirations and gain a greater determination.

Mindfulness / awareness 8

Preparation before may increase the possibility of seizing the opportunity, eventually improving the skills and exploiting potential capabilities

Factors (9); Personal 8; Family (7); Choice (5); Informant (4); Value of project (3)

Feedback Themes

learning how to develop their own career; meeting local people; communicating with people from different cultural

backgrounds (both other students and locals) the project was enjoyable. The career development project is the part I enjoy most. I think it is a good chance to both communicate with local residence (sic) and start to build our future plan. (2015-16) I found many useful recommendations through different theories, make a friend by this lovely activity (2014-15)

Student feedback

The other module help me also to my future plan. In ‘People Management’ I must writing a reflection about myself, what I learn during this class, where I see me in the future? So the english class and the career project help me so much to do a choice for my future plan. (2015-16)

Conclusion

In addition to developing students’ language

and communication skills, the project raises

their awareness of factors that can affect

careers.

Experience at PU Background Educational opportunities Extra curricular activity Networking Work opportunities

References

Bridgstock, R (2009) The graduate attributes we’ve overlooked: enhancing graduate employability through career management skills, Higher Education Research & Development, 28:1, 31-44, DOI: 10.1080/07294360802444347

Chakkrabotty, A. (2016) What the great degree rip-off means for graduates: low pay and high debt http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/19/degree-graduates-low-pay-high-debt-students

Dacre Pool, L & Sewell, P 2007, 'The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability' Education and Training, vol 49, no. 4, pp 277-289

Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (2011) Supporting Graduate employability HEI Practice in other countries Research Paper Number 40

Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B.E. (2004) ‘Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications.’ Journal of Vocational Behaviour. 65 pp 14-38

Harvey, L. (2005) “Embedding and integrating employability” in New Directions for Institutional Research, Special Issue: Workforce Development and Higher Education: A Strategic Role for Institutional Research, Volume 2005, Issue 128, pages 13–28, Winter 2005

Times Higher Education International Student Survey 2015.

Waltz, M. (2014) Improving student employability. Jobs.ac.uk. [online] Available at http://www.jobs.ac.uk/media/pdf/careers/resources/improving-student-employability.pdf Last accessed 31/5/15.

Yorke, M and Knight (2003) ‘Employability and Good Learning in Higher Education .’ Teaching in Higher Education, 8:1, 3-16

QUESTIONS?