New way to boost employability in international students

Universities worldwide have provided employability-related programmes to enhance international students’ employability so that they can have successful employment outcomes.

While COVID-19 has slowed down the international student mobility movement due to border restrictions and lockdowns, a steady growth has been recorded in Australia. For example, in Australia there were nearly 662,895 international students studying in Australian universities in 2024. These students were mainly from China (115,415, a 20% market share), India (97,152, a 17% market share) and Nepal (48,297, a 9% market share).

International education is often considered a gateway towards a better future, with considerable opportunities to gain assets such as self-development, professional development, intercultural learning and, most importantly, to attain a competitive advantage in global and domestic job markets.

Therefore, it is important for higher education institutions to provide a meaningful and supportive environment for international students to strengthen their employability, which has a major impact on their employment and career outcomes.

Universities do offer employability-related programmes, such as industry placements, internships, project-based learning, mentoring, volunteering and work-integrated learning as well as extra and co-curricular activities.

While these programmes have served some universities well, they no longer meet the growing demand for employment-ready graduates, particularly for international students.

There is a need for a financially and operationally sustainable and scalable solution that can address the existing challenges in the concurrent development of students’ employability and entrepreneurial skills through siloed conventional programmes (for instance, accessibility, affordability, sponsorship, partnership and engagement and student and community involvement).

Hence, a new initiative by La Trobe University, funded by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, has proposed the Chinese International Student Experiential Learning Ecosystem.

This ecosystem is an innovative action-learning system aimed at equipping not only Chinese students but also domestic and other international students to work in the early stages of their career in Australia. Together with business mentors, students are organised into work teams to solve real-life business problems faced by local start-ups, scale-ups and small-to-medium enterprises, and become part of the broader business community.

The benefits

Participation in the project provided multifaceted benefits for students, business partners, mentors and facilitators. For students, engagement in hackathon events provided valuable networking opportunities to engage with employers.

Students highlighted the significance of networking in enhancing their employability skills, such as communication and problem-solving skills, as well as improving their cultural understanding relating to business operations in Australia.

Students also appreciated the application of knowledge in relation to real business problems. They experienced personal growth in boosting their confidence in public speaking and making presentations.

Business partners, in turn, experienced tangible benefits, such as increased website sales and organisational improvements, attributable to student recommendations. Business partners were satisfied with the results of the project and the ideas proposed by the students.

Mentors recognised the project’s value in reinforcing their knowledge and understanding of younger generations’ attitudes towards work. For the facilitator or the project manager, the project provided invaluable experience in project management and compliance with government funding requirements, broadening project management skillsets and professional expertise.

Overall, participation in the project facilitated diverse learning outcomes and collaborative experiences, benefiting all stakeholders involved.

Lessons learnt

In reviewing the outcomes and lessons from employability events like hackathons, valuable insights have emerged from the perspectives of various stakeholders, paving the way for future improvements in engagement strategies and event design.

Hackathons, known for their collaborative nature and problem-solving approach, offer a unique platform for students, businesses, mentors and facilitators to interact and innovate. However, alongside the reported benefits, there is a need to optimise these events further to ensure maximum student participation and lasting impact.

• Student-centric insights: Adjusting schedules: Students underscored the importance of understanding their schedules and preferences to improve event promotion in order to increase participation rates, particularly, scheduling hackathons after the Orientation Week to boost student involvement. Students also suggested extending the event’s duration slightly to allow for more comprehensive discussions with business partners.

• Business partner engagement: Enhancing communication: For business partners, effective communication emerged as a pivotal area for enhancing engagement and promoting mutual benefit. By improving communication channels throughout the project’s lifecycle, businesses can better understand student needs and objectives, fostering more meaningful collaborations and outcomes. These skills are transferable to employees in the workplace.

• Mentorship dynamics: Clarifying expectations: Mentor perspectives focus on supporting student employability and programme sustainability, stressing the importance of clear expectations and proposing a stricter internship structure.

• Project manager learnings: Ensuring sustainability: The project manager suggested advocating cost-effective models and ongoing engagement between businesses and universities to enhance student employability-related opportunities in order to gain continued support from funding bodies to sustain and expand similar programmes. This will also enable continuous improvement in current programmes rather than repeating challenges in future discrete programmes.

These recommendations reflect a collective commitment to refining student engagement strategies, improving programme effectiveness and ensuring lasting success. By leveraging these insights, future employability events can evolve into transformative experiences that empower students, engage businesses and foster lasting partnerships between academia and industry.

The journey towards optimising hackathons and similar initiatives is a collaborative one, guided by a shared vision of preparing students for dynamic careers in an ever-evolving professional landscape.

Dr Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh is a senior lecturer at La Trobe Business School, Australia; Sean Arisian; Geraldine Kennett are associate professors at La Trobe Business School, Australia; and Melody Tang is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia, where her PhD topic explores Chinese international graduates’ employability in Australia.