International Graduates - Where do they go?

Developing cross-cultural understanding between higher education providers and international students has been key to providing educational packages which meet these learners’ qualification requirements, equip them for life and careers after graduation, and help to make our courses a first choice in today’s competitive higher education environment.

In 2013, Cath Fraser, Pip Crombie and Pam Simpson carried out a study to gain an insight into graduate international students’ outcomes related to employment, career development, enrolment into higher qualifications and achieving permanent residence.

Using a scholarship of teaching and learning inquiry approach helped them to understand the transitions a student makes from the education environment of their home country, to that of a foreign provider, and thence into the global workforce.

Their findings highlighted a number of areas in which service provision and workplace preparation can be improved, and given the number of graduates who remained in our country, confirms the phenomenon widely discussed in the recent literature: that international students today are less sojourners than potential citizens.

This research has been presented at international and national conferences and resulted in two peer-reviewed published papers.