1. Supporting International Student Employability
Enhancing the international student experience: effective strategies for 2017 and beyond
Supporting International Student Employability
Esther de Perlaky, University of Warwick
Cate Linforth, University of Birmingham

2. Importance of employability
“Employability is the most important aspect that Chinese students look for when applying to university. If universities can demonstrate a high level of success at helping Chinese graduates to find jobs then this will allow them to attract the most promising students.” China Recruitment Representative
How do your student recruitment team use employability to recruit international students?
Employability is a key buzz word amongst international students, and their parents, and is increasingly a growing differentiator for international students when choosing an overseas university.

3. Imagine…. Imagine how different it is for international students?
What do you do to prepare your international students for your careers fairs? What can you do more of?
SHARE ON YOUR TABLE – what are some of the things that your careers service could do to help international students?

4. What do you think are the opportunities and challenges for careers services to support international students?

5. Challenges Expectations: Brexit and UK visa situation
On-course work experience/employment
Post-graduation UK employment
Brexit and UK visa situation
Little knowledge of the UK/Western graduate employment sector
No prior work or volunteering experience
English fluency and cultural differences

6. What do you think are the opportunities for careers services to support international students?

7. Opportunities Extremely engaged with careers services
On campus activities
Bespoke International Student Careers Services
Online resources
Peer to peer support

8. Careers Level Initiatives
Enhancing the international student experience: effective strategies for 2017 and beyond
Careers Level Initiatives

9. Birmingham Dedicated international careers service
International Careers Consultant
International Employer Liaison Officer
Postgraduate Employer Liaison Officer
International Students Peer to Peer Team
International Student Mentoring Programmes
International careers fairs
Bespoke online career resources and courses

10. Joint China Careers Fair
Warwick, plus Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Aston, Lancaster, and Liverpool university students
2,000 students
25+ employers
Presentations plus careers support

11. Regional and Sector Level Initiatives
Enhancing the international student experience: effective strategies for 2017 and beyond
Regional and Sector Level Initiatives

12. Standing Out and Fitting In
Warwick-led HE wide research into enhancing Chinese student employability
Clear gap between Chinese employer and student’s career expectations
60% students have no career planning
Opportunities for HE-wide and institutional support for Chinese students

13. Midlands International Group
16 universities from East and West Midlands
Sharing of best practice and collaboration on events
New website and blog

14. HE-wide Pre-Arrival Careers Support

15. Going forwards
Supporting the positioning of UK-HE as the country of choice for overseas study
Through the employability agenda
Increased ‘home-country’ based activity
And opportunities for HE-sector careers collaboration

16. Discussion
What are the challenges and opportunities you, your service and your institution face in terms of international student employability?
How can employability initiatives help support the attraction and recruitment of international students?
What are the needs/opportunities for closer collaboration between services e.g. careers, international offices, study abroad teams?

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