Slide title (Time
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A mismatch of expectations?
An exploration of international
students’ perceptions of
employability skills and work-related
learning
Sabine McKinnon
Lecturer in Employability
Real WoRLD Project Manager
Caledonian Academy
Glasgow Caledonian University
17 June 2011
page 1
Structure of presentation
1.
What is employability?
2.
The Real WoRLD project at Glasgow Caledonian University
3.
The Real WoRLD study
4.
Research findings
5.
Conclusion and recommendations
page 2
What is employability?
The UK view
“ A modern, competitive economy needs workers who possess
skills, knowledge and attitudes they can take to any work
situation and have the ability and willingness to continually
adapt and prosper in a changing world.” (CBI, Future Fit, 2009)
page 3
What makes graduates employable?
The UK view
CBI recruitment criteria (CBI, 2010)
Employability skills
77%
Positive attitude
68%
Relevant work experience/ placement
61%
Degree subject
53%
Degree result
25%
University attended
8%
The European view
(Eurobarometer, 2010)
“Please rate the following skills and competencies in terms of how important
they are when recruiting higher education graduates in your company”.
“Communication skills are very important.”
page 5
Malta
91%
UK
76%
Denmark
40%
France
26%
The non-European view
(Brennan et al, 2001)
10 most highly rated possessed competencies by
UK, European and Japanese graduates
UK
Europe
Japan
1. Learning abilities
1. Learning abilities
1. Loyalty/ integrity
2. Working
independently
2. Power of
concentration
2. Power of
concentration
3. Written
communication skills
3. Working
independently
3. Adaptability
page 6
Preparing international students for employment: evidence of dissatisfaction
The case of GCU (ISB, 2009)

89% satisfied with learning experience overall

least satisfied with provision of work-related learning
(work experience, careers advice from academics,
employability = “learning that will help me get a good job”)
 45% of non-EU students and 60% of Nigerians were very dissatisfied or
dissatisfied
page 7
International students at GCU in 2010-11
India
306
Nigeria
227
Philippines
183
China
170
Pakistan
133
Saudi Arabia
129
Canada
47
Libya
40
Oman
40
USA
37
Ghana
24
Research questions
 What might be the reason for their dissatisfaction?
 What are their perceptions of employability skills and graduate recruitment
criteria?
 What are their views of learning and teaching styles at UK university?
page 9
2. The Real WoRLD Project at GCU
(Realising Work-Related Learning Diffusion)

GCU’s strategic employability initiative

Funded through dedicated SFC funding “Learning to Work”
Aim: Improve and enhance students’ employability skills through
supporting staff in embedding work related learning activities
across the university
http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/realworld/index.html
Annual evaluation of SFC funding
 How can you be sure that your current approaches to getting student
engagement in employability take full account of the diversity of your
student population (for example adult, part time, widening participation,
international, etc)?
 How do you take account of the different levels of employability skills and
attributes with which students arrive at your institution?
 How do you tailor your support for different kinds of students to reflect
their particular needs?
3. The Real WoRLD study in 2009
Five focus groups (60-90 minutes) with convenience sample from most
popular programmes; 16 postgraduates; 11 undergraduates
Country
No. of participants
Percentage of sample
Nigeria
12
44
India
3
11
Poland
3
11
Russia
2
7
Others: 1 each from
Ghana, Pakistan, Uganda,
France, Spain, Portugal
page 12
Focus group questions
 What were your reasons for choosing the university and your
programme?
 In your view, what qualities are employers looking for when
recruiting graduates?
 How useful have your studies at GCU been in preparing you for
the world of work?
page 13
4. Research findings:
Awareness of different expectations
 value of degree as evidence of a qualification with high prestige
“ I think it’s really different when you compare the UK and Nigeria. In Nigeria what is
most relevant is your qualification, first qualifications. The document is really, really
very important, more than in other countries.”
 technical expertise and subject knowledge matter more than soft skills
“ I felt that to quite some extent that in the UK interpersonal skills are more important
compared to Pakistan. In Pakistan they ask for more technical questions (in the
interview).”
access to industry networks and personal contacts
“ Nigeria is all about, let me use this phrase, man knows man, that’s it. It’s everywhere.
If I know him, …you can just say: please help me.”
page 14
Agreement on global employability skills
 Work experience and teamworking skills
 Cultural awareness and insight into business etiquette in different countries
“I think one of the great skills to have is building good relationships, working
relationships. See, in Russia, people are …much more friendly. So they use different
persona of yourself to build these relationships. Here you need different things…if you
are trying to implement the same ways as you did in your own country it doesn’t work
here and it chokes you.”
“In my country we are very effusive, we are very boisterous, show the emotion, shake
hands… (here) you have to learn to value their privacy, they don’t like it…it’s not that
they are not friendly but they want not to be too open.” (Nigerian)
page 15
Evidence of culture clash:
Individualist vs. collectivist cultures
 Students from collectivist cultures expect a favour from the academic
community they feel they have joined.
They are disappointed at university’s failure to provide them with an entry
ticket to the employment market
“ I don’t think the university are doing enough in that field.. They gave me a
letter and it was just the basic ‘to whom it may concern’, he is a student in this
school …and that was it. No, I expected something more. “
Interviewer: “A recommendation?” “Yeah.” (Ghanain)
page 16
Individualism versus collectivism:
How do people define themselves in relation to others?
(Hofstede, 2001, p. 244)
Individualists
Collectivists
 Hiring and promotion decisions should be  Hiring and promotion decisions take
based on individual skills and ‘objective’
membership of groups (family, employer
rules only.
and academic networks) into account.
 Treating friends and protegees better
than others is nepotism and unethical.
 Treating friends and protegees better
than others is normal and ethical .
 Employer-employee relationship is a
business deal in anonymous labour
market.
Employer-employee relationship is like a
family link.
 Certificates have little symbolic value.
 Certificates are extremely important and
displayed on walls.
Individualism Rankings
(Hofstede, 2001)
1
2
USA
Australia
3
UK
4
Canada
10
France
15
Germany
21
India
39
West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone)
53
Guatemala
Views on learning and teaching styles in the UK
 Student-friendly approach compared favourably with more distant
relationship at home.
“ You can ask as many questions as you want…I don’t think I have ever been
turned down…the relationship between the teacher and the student here is
amazing because I call my teacher George, I don’t call him ‘Sir’…(In Poland)
they (the students) are probably seeing some of them (the staff) as God.”
(Polish)
“Same in my country. They are so big-headed.” (Nigerian)
page 19
Perceptions of learning and teaching in UK: signs of culture clash
 supporting independent learning or abdicating responsibility?
(In Russia) … teachers are very interested in teaching you…at times they are
bugging you, why don’t you come to lectures, why don’t you do this and that?
Here it is …more self- teaching, so you should do it yourself...but you pay
money. So you are paying to get some knowledge from someone.”
 attitude of academic staff reflects employers’ approach to managing their
staff
“ …post-Soviet bosses, they are looking after you because it’s in their habit to
look after their employees…” (Russian)
page 20
Power distance:
Attitudes towards social inequality and authority
(Hofstede, 1986)
Small PD cultures
Large PD cultures
 Respect for higher status

Privilege and status has to be
earned.

Teachers should respect the
independence of their students.
 Teachers merit the respect of their
students.

Teachers expect students to find
their own paths.
 Students expect teachers to outline
paths to follow.

Student centred education; focus
on initiative
 Teacher-centred education; focus
on input from staff
Power Distance Rankings
(Hofstede, 2001)
1
Malaysia
2
Guatemala
4
Philippines
8
Indonesia
10/11
India
West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone)
38
USA
42
UK
51
Denmark
Signs of conflict due to a mismatch of expectations
They are too
demanding
and immature.
You are not
doing your
job.
Students’ idea of a good quality education can clash with UK
perception danger of damaging UK universities’ reputation
abroad
5. Conclusion and recommendations
Cultural value systems impact on perceptions of ‘useful’ employability skills
and quality in learning and teaching.
What and how students need to learn to prepare for employment can be
culture specific.
We need to understand the ‘system’ that has produced the foreign student.
(Teekens, 2003).
Cultural awareness training for all needs to focus on the role of values rather
than country specifics.
page 24
Recommendations
Universities should provide ...
 briefing notes on different national education systems for their staff
student induction programmes to explain the UK approach to learning and
teaching
 opportunities for foreign staff, current and former international students to
share their experience of adjusting to UK culture with UK staff
 courses on international differences in business etiquette and networking
for all
 campus-based work-related learning activities that help international
students understand UK employers’ needs and expectations (e.g. simulations,
tasks based on real-life, client-based projects, networking events) if access to
placements is difficult
page 25
References
Brennan, J. et al (2001). The Employment of UK Graduates: Comparisons with Europe and Japan, A Report to
HEFCE by the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information, The Open University.
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) (2010). Ready to Grow: Business Priorities for Education and Skills.
Education and Skills Survey , London: CBI.
CBI and Universities UK, (2009). Future Fit: Preparing Graduates for the World of Work, London: CBI.
Eurobarometer (2010). Employers’ Perception of Graduate Employability, EU Directorate-General for Education
and Culture, November 2010.
Hofstede, G (2004) 3rd ed. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Thousand
Oaks: Sage.
Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural differences in teaching and learning, International Journal of Intercultural
Relations; Vol. 10, pp. 301-320.
Real WorLD Project at Glasgow Caledonian University (2008); available from:
http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/realworld/
Teekens, H. (2003) The requirement to develop specific skills for teaching in an intercultural setting, Journal of
Studies in International Education, Vol. 7, No.1, Spring, 2003, pp. 108-119.
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