Global Career Compass
Leveraging Education Abroad for Student Career Development & Employability
Career Prospects Do Not Influence Satisfaction of International Students Studying in Europe
This new report, http://media.prtl.eu/Key_Influencers_International_Student_Satisfaction.pdf, discusses “key influencers” of satisfaction of international students studying in Europe on short-term programs. As stated in the Preface: “The satisfaction levels of international students are much more dependent on personal development (“Personal growth”) and the non-academic environment (“City atmosphere”). This roughly ties in with the results of some 20 years of evaluation of the Erasmus Programme, which revealed that the major learning taking place was in soft areas, i.e. the learning of a new language, the acquisition of intercultural skills, personal maturing and learning in new social settings. We knew already that this is typical of temporary mobility (or credit mobility), where students go abroad for a semester or a year.”
The report shows that of the 1,480 respondents, only 1% cited “career prospects” as a “key influencer” with respect to the level of satisfaction they felt about their period of study. Academics ranked first – as it should…Nevertheless, I am a bit surprised at this finding in light of the severity of economic conditions in so much of Europe and the exceptionally high degree of unemployment in many countries of the EU.
I’d welcome comments from readers based in Europe.
2 Comments on “Career Prospects Do Not Influence Satisfaction of International Students Studying in Europe”
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Global Career Compass 
Thank you. We’ve never really had a true correlation between degree & employment; just that since the weakened economy, there is a much heightened public awareness of the absence of a linkage between investing so much money in attending and the lack of success –always present for generations – of graduates to obtain their first jobs out of college.
I think two issues play a role:
– a relative inexpensive cost of high education in Europe does not result in the ROI type of thinking in regards to study abroad programs
– a very weak ‘social contract’ that would guarantee, like in the U.S., a correlation between the degree and a career path/compensation. It is especially evident in post communistic countries where there are many people with masters’ degrees ending up working menial jobs in Western Europe despite a relatively stable economy in home regions.