Employment and professional capabilities of international graduates from Finnish Higher Education Institutions

Transcription

1 Employment and professional capabilities of international graduates from Finnish Higher Education Institutions 2 nd DEHEMS International Conference: Employability of Graduates & Higher Education Management Systems Ljubljana, September 2012 Yuzhuo Cai & Yulia Shumilova Higher Education Group, School of Management University of Tampere 1

2 Why research graduate employability? Worldwide: Employability as a measure of HE quality The feedback from graduates can be used to improve the quality of educational programs in terms of their labor market relevance and to market these programs

3 Why focus on international graduate employability in Finland? An important issue in attracting international students and Finnish labour market/economic development Employability development has been considered as a key factor affecting students decision when studying abroad Finnish policy to increase the number of international students and make the labour market more attractive for them (in the view of ageing population) Little information concerning employment of international graduates (educated in Finland)

4 Definition of employability Employability=graduate s ability and skills to gain, retain and (when necessary) find new fulfilling/satisfying work Closely linked to job success criteria: duration of job search; income and socio-economic status; a position appropriate to the level and field of studies; a high degree of job satisfaction desirable employment conditions* (Pavlin, 2010:5) (only partly included in our study)

5 VALOA study ( ) 363 eligible responses from international graduates of from 15 HEIs (part of VALOA network) response rate % Majority of respondents (62.4%) are university graduates 75 nationalities 20 complimentary interviews with graduates and employers Graduates: employed, unemployed Employers: IT, Production, servicers/consulting, public sector 5

6 Top five reasons to choose Finland as a study destination Free of charge education, Possibility to study in English, A chance to improve employability, A chance to explore a foreign country Reputation of HEIs 6

7 Location after graduation 90,0 % 80,0 % 77,9 % 70,0 % 60,0 % 50,0 % 40,0 % 30,0 % 20,0 % 10,0 % 12,6 % 9,5 % 0,0 % Settled in Finland Returned to home country 7 Moved elsewhere

8 Employment rate 70% of all respondents are currently employed (N=253) Among those who are not employed (N=110), 61% are undertaking further studies, 11% are doing internship, 29% are taking care of family, 12% are in other situation. 8

9 Employment by regions 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 86,36% 77,27% 77,78% 63,64% 67,53% 71,43% 55,10% n=49 n=44 n=77 n=105 n=22 n=18 n=44 Africa Non EU East Asia EU Other (South East Asia 7, Oceania 5, Latin America 10) 9 North America South, West, Central Asia

10 Employment rate by sectors 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 52,94% 56,25% 59,09% 66,67% 83,33% 33,33% 89,19% 61,19% 80,00% 83,33% Africa Non EU East Asia EU Other (South East Asia 7, Oceania 5, Latin America 10) 10 University UAS 71,43% 66,67% North America 84,38% 91,67% South, West, Central Asia

11 Employment rate by location 80% 70% 71,74% 70,21% 60% 50% 54,55% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Settled in Finland Returned to your home country 11 Moved elsewhere

12 Status of employment self-employed by own initiative 3% a fixed-term parttime job 9% self-employed (Forced) freelancing 5% other 3% a permanent full-time job 33% a fixed-term fulltime job 38% 12 a permanent part-time job 8%

13 60,0 % Character 50,0 % of first and current job 40,0 % 30,0 % 20,0 % 10,0 % 0,0 % First Job Current Job 13

14 The relevance of current job to the level of education attained in Finland 70,0 % 64,3 % 60,0 % 50,0 % 40,0 % 30,0 % 20,0 % 10,0 % 10,7 % 14,3 % 10,7 % 0,0 % The job did not require a higher education degree A lower level higher education degree could be used in this job 14 The job was at the same level to my own education The job was at a higher level than my own education

15 Income The salary level is lower than the local average in the field. (the most typical gross salary level among those who settled in Finland is 2001 to 2500 euro) However, there is a tendency of salary increase when comparing the first job and the current one. 15

16 Job satisfaction very dissatisfied 4,0% dissatisfied 9,8% very satisfied 25,3% neutral 17,2% satisfied 43,7% 16

17 Skills own vs. required at work (Perceived by the graduates) According to the graduates perception: their skills are higher than those required at work Overeducated or underemployed? 17

18 q. Work experience in the filed p. Entrepreneurial skills a. Mastery of your own field or discipline 5 4 b. Knowledge of other fields or disciplines c. Analytical / research skills o. Computer skills n. Foreign language proficiency 3 2 e. Leadership skills m. Inter-cultural competences f. Team working skills k. Presentation skills j. Communication / social skills g. Problem-solving skills h. Ability to coordinate activities / projects i. Creative/innovative thinking Own level 18 Required at work

19 Skills that significantly matter a. Mastery of one s own field or discipline b. Knowledge of other fields or disciplines c. Analytical / research skills d. Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge e. Leadership skills f. Team working skills h. Ability to coordinate activities / projects m. Inter-cultural competences o. Computer skills 19 q. Work experience in the field

20 Skills needed by employers (Valoa interviews) Employers requirement is generally higher than those perceived by the graduates Employers highlight the importance of generic/transferable skills (apart from subjectspecific knowledge): Energy, ambition, evidence of being an achiever, and goal minded person. Self-motivated characteristics and attitude negotiation & presentation skills (engineers sometimes lack these) (E1) fluent social skills, understanding of economic matters (E2) innovativeness and the independent research skills (E3) good team working skills and communication skills (E5) 20

21 a. Mastery of your own field or discipline 5 b. Knowledge of other fields or q. Work experience in the filed disciplines p. Entrepreneurial skills o. Computer skills 4 3 c. Analytical / research skills d. Ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge n. Foreign language proficiency 2 e. Leadership skills m. Inter-cultural competences f. Team working skills l. Ability to write reports and documents k. Presentation skills j. Communication / social skills g. Problem-solving skills h. Ability to coordinate activities / projects i. Creative/innovative thinking Required at work (perceived by graduates) 21 required by employers

22 Obstacles to finding a job for international graduates in Finland 22

23 Recommendations for HEIs 1 High quality of education can attract international students However, the quality cannot easily be measured, in practice students are inclined to judge the quality by its international reputation (Marginson, 2006) and the career success of graduates (Teichler, 2009, p. 15). More help and guidance with finding internships, jobs and networking Internship experience is often considered by employers as equivalent to work experience The university career centres were the least used when searching for a job Students simply don t know where are the potential employers 23

24 Recommendations 2 Enhance the labour market relevance of higher education studies Universities need to pay more attention to the needs in the labour market and have more cooperation with potential employers in curriculum design and teaching. Filling in the gaps between skills of graduates and needs of labour market does not only need students commitment but it is a responsibility of universities too. Relevant soft skills are expected to be developed during students study in the universities. 24

25 Recommendations 3 Universities should strive to make the curriculum offered in English equal to that of offered in Finnish Many important courses are available only in Finnish or Swedish. More opportunities to learn Finnish and Swedish language Essential in the Finnish labour market. The language study is not enforced and the teaching methods are criticised being too grammar oriented. 25

26 Recommendations 4 Promote graduates to employer Most employers perception of the skills of international graduates are intuitive More information and channels to be developed for the employers to have a true picture of the graduates. 26

27 Recommendations 5 Recruiting most gifted or relevant students is also a guarantee for the quality of the graduates. Little attention is paid in recruitment strategies. Wisely use finical incentives (fee paying programmes). Study the targeting student markets. 27

28 Recommendation to HEIs - 6 Finally Keep the database of your graduates and collect feedback from them on the relevance of HE to the world of work Track their employment situation for QA and marketing purposes! 28

29 Publications 1 Y. Shumulova, Y. Cai, & E. Pekkola, Employability of international graduates educated in Finnish higher education institutions (VALOA Report), to be released in June 2012 Shumilova, J., & Cai, Y. (2011, September). Factors influencing the employability of international graduates. Paper presented at the DEHEMS International Conference--Employability of Graduates & Higher Education Management Systems, Vienna, Austria. 29

30 Publications 2 Cai, Y. (2012). International graduates from Finland: Do they satisfy the needs of Finnish employers abroad? Journal of Research in International Education, 11(1), Cai, Y. (In review process). Employment prospects of Finnish-educated Chinese graduates in Finnish companies in China employers' perspectives. Tampere University Press 30

31 Thanks! 31