Overseas graduates lack language and social skills: study
Updated
Foreign students in Australia are struggling to find full-time work in their chosen field because they don't have the social and language skills to fit into the Australian workplace, according to a report.
The investigation, commissioned for the Australian Government, indicates graduates may well have the right qualifications but employers are concerned about whether they've integrated into the Australian culture.
Presenter: Emily Bourke
Speakers: Sophie Arkoudis from Melbourne University's Centre for the Study of Higher Learning
- Listen:
- Windows Media
EMILY BOURKE: The investigation by Melbourne University has raised fresh questions about whether overseas students are graduating with the right skills and are prepared for the Australian workplace.
The study's author Sophie Arkoudis.
SOPHIE ARKOUDIS: If students don't have a certain adequate level of English language proficiency, then they are going to find it hard to get a job but if they do have adequate English language proficiency then what employers and what students are telling us becomes important in this whole equation is the student's own work experience, how well rounded they are in terms of their personality and how they fit into the workplace, and employers then really emphasise that they wanted students with strong professional specific skills as well.
So English language proficiency wasn't the main dominating aspect of choice for employment.
EMILY BOURKE: And she says there's increased pressure on universities to make graduates job-ready.
SOPHIE ARKOUDIS: Employers are looking towards universities to produce students who are ready for the workplace. With regards to international students, they are looking at students who can fit into and integrate into the workplace.
They particularly want students who have demonstrated work experience. Now the problem here isn't so much that the international students aren't integrating, it's that they are not having opportunities to find those work experience placements in order to be able to develop the type of cultural fit that employers are after, whereas our local students that we interviewed for the project had no problems finding workplace experience.
EMILY BOURKE: The study isn't the first to look at the job prospects for migrants.
Research by the Australian National University published earlier this year found Australian employers were reluctant to give a job to applicants with ethnic names when compared to Anglo-Saxon names, and that job seekers from ethnic minorities needed to apply for more jobs in order to receive the same number of interviews.
Sophie Arkoudis says her study had some similar and conflicting results.
SOPHIE ARKOUDIS: We found that while that might have been the case with certain employers and certain students' perceptions of employers, we also found that there were many employers who were more than happy to employ overseas students or international graduates because they felt that they would go in and do the hard work and that they were very enthusiastic and committed to the type of work environment.
So for example, engineers out in the outback were heavily sought after by employers because they were willing to go there and work there so there were many examples where employers were very happy to employ international students.
