Is employability still the holy grail for the new generation of international students?

The simple answer to the question raised in the title is yes. Whether it is from the perspective of the student, the higher education institution, or society at large, employability matters. In fact, it matters big time. But what we mean with employability might sometimes be less clear. To me personally, it means maximizing the talents of every individual who studies at our institutions – does that sound impossible? No, I believe it is attainable provided we offer what we promise, and we are transparent about what we can and cannot do. Managing expectations is key, even if it means telling students that simply studying abroad is not going to do the trick.

The International Student Barometer (ISB) data for 2023/24 shows that for the past five years “Future career impact” has topped the list at 96% as the primary reason why international students choose a higher education institution (HEI).

Study choice is not driven by country reputation (although important, it only scored #7) or institution reputation (#3) but by the impact it will have on a graduate’s career. Given that this latest ISB is based on 192,581 student responses, including 122,975 international students studying at 155 institutions in 24 countries, it seems safe to say employability is the key driver of choice for a vast majority of students. This is underlined by the fact that ‘Earning potential’ is in 5th place (out of 20 answer options). Although over a longer period, the importance of earnings has increased, in comparison with last year’s ISB data it has declined slightly in importance. It is too early yet to see a clear trend in that respect, but important enough to note if we think about what we are trying to market to the next generations of students.

Employability is not only a driving force behind study choice but also key for recommendation of the study experience (together with course organization (!) and quality of lectures). Hence, it is evident that from the start of the student journey that higher education institutions need to work on graduate career outcomes, an area where institutions in Europe lag by 9% compared to the global benchmark.

Nevertheless, the European higher education sector has the Erasmus+ program, and the benefits of study abroad with respect to graduate employability seem obvious as indicated by two Erasmus Impact Studies (2014 and 2019). But life is not that simple, study abroad is not creating employability on its own. Students need to be provided with the support to help them “unpack” what they have gained while being abroad. For higher education to make study abroad work in building graduate employability it is essential to understand the competencies that are gained on mobility and how these contribute to career prospects of mobile students.

However, when we asked employers if they recruit students simply because they have studied abroad, the picture becomes slightly more mixed. There is no guarantee that study abroad in itself makes someone employable – there is more needed to make that happen. For starters, a graduate should be able to explain what they have gained while being abroad and how these skills can support them in their new role. When graduates can unpack what they have gained abroad, employers become keener in hiring that person. But when that graduate can ‘repackage’ their skills in the language of a hiring manager (word of warning: there is no one-size-fits-all approach – this may differ per sector and per country), an employer is more likely to be interested in that graduate. After all, study abroad provides, by its very nature, situations where people develop the skills sought after by the future world of work.

Now graduate outcomes are not the sole reason for either providing higher education or for offering study abroad, but if our students can use the experiences, we provide them with to become more employable, we have done an important part of our job: creating talents for the future.

What can institutions and providers do to support this quest for employability? Take employability skills seriously. Globalize your curricula, build in global orientation, and skills training because that career workshop at the end of a study program will not be enough to create employable graduates. And please realize that not all international students will stay in their host country. Many will return to their home countries or might consider another country for a while. Maybe it all starts with the understanding that for recruitment of new students, you need to start at the end of the student journey by taking steps to ensure better graduate outcomes for your students.