Global Career Compass
Leveraging Education Abroad for Student Career Development & Employability
Why Don’t Students Understand The Linkage Between Study Abroad & Employability?
The short answer is–I don’t know and I’m not sure there are easy ways to expain why.
Last week, along with my colleague, Dr. Vera Chapman, Associate Director of Career Services at Colgate University, we conducted a webinar for NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) with participants from a diverse group working in career service offices at 71 colleges and universities (public, private, small, large, urban amd rural and in all regions of the country). When asked if their students understood the linkage of studying abroad to their students’ employasbility, 86% responded NO or UNSURE.
You may be saying, students have bigger things to be thinking about – like graduating on time. As a recent essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Karin Fischer pointed out (2-23-16), “2 Keys to Success for Underprivileged Students: When to Start College, and Where to Go,” http://chronicle.com/article/2-Keys-to-Success-for/235377?cid=trend_right_a, “If low-income students end up on paths with lower rates of success, they risk ‘being left behind.’ A college degree is becoming the fault line between haves and have nots.”
And this is what ties in concerns about the very low number of minority & low-income students enrolled at a majority of our institutions, and the notion that it is very important for students to learn – early on- that if they do have an international experience, it will BOTH help them gain invaluable skills that employers do value AND it will also mean they are more likely to graduate on time and enter the workforce at home or sbroad.
In 2016, students and their families know it’s important to both get a college degree and graduate with the kinds of skills that will make them more employable; our campuses – and student affairs offices like career services – need to do a much better job at getting the attention of students to inform them of the benefits of gaining international experience – and making it an affordable option for all students to consider.
The Art of Being Human & “Value” of a College Education
This essay remains a good reminder for readers advising students graduating in the class of 2016…Let’s try to remove that rock standing in the way of students.
This essay is a time-out for me. I’ve been speaking about the need for students to become more savvy about how to link their international education experiences to their aspirations for employment for a long time. Titles in this blog reflect that quite clearly. And I know that many of my colleagues are very concerned about the need for their campuses to do a better job about preparing their students to enter the workforce. In the times we’re in, this is, needless to say, obvious. And then I read this essay by Prof. Lisa Dolling who teaches Philosophy at Stevens Institute of Technology, http://chronicle.com/article/To-Help-Students-Succeed/228281/?cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=e
She says: “…in the end it is not only a matter of what you do, it’s how and why you do it; and the knowledge that that this requires above all is knowledge of oneself.” She writes out of her concern that the debate surrounding the purpose/meaning/value…
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Higher Education and the Employability Agenda – A Global Perspective
Will be co-presenting webinar on 2-17 to 70 career offices around country for NACE ON “LEVERAGING EDUCATION ABROAD FOR EMPLOYABILITY.”
Dr. Cheryl Matherly and I have co-authored a chapter (Part Two, Chapter 16) on this topic in the just released Palgrave International Handbook of Higher Education Policy and Governance. You can review the book’s contents and see all contributors at – http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/The-Palgrave-International-Handbook-of-Higher-Education-Policy-and-Governance/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137456168 This link only provides you a look at the diversity of contributors and the table of contents. It is expensive, unfortunately; but I’d be glad to try to reply to specific questions.
We examine the term employability and its interpretation by many actors and differing institutions. Since the 2008 recession, there has been a renewed debate about the purpose of a college degree (largely driven by educators in the U.S.) and the need for greater attention to how academic institutions prepare students to enter the global workforce (regardless of their choice of majors!). Readers of my blog know I have focused on this linkage for many years!
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Looking Ahead — The Discourse of Internationalization of Career Services in German Universities: Part III
In this closing blog in a series of three posts by Jerome Rickmann, he outlines a unique effort in the EU to create a European Centre for Career Development & Entrepreneurship. I’m grateful for this extended discussion by Jerome about the role of career service offices in German universities and their contribution to internationalization of their higher education institutions. There is, unfortunately, no corresponding effort in the U.S. to unify and share university career development resources. With rare exceptions, this is also true for library collections, sports facilities, etc. – or for that matter, international education programs.
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Guest post by Jerome Rickmann
https://de.linkedin.com/in/jérôme-rickmann-4b992354/en
Director, International Talent Acquisition & Project Development
EBC Hochschule (a private multi-campus business school in Berlin)
In my last two guest posts, I described a rather “dark” picture of the German Career Service landscape on our campuses. Too dark one might argue. Compared to the level of support for career services within other higher education systems within the EU, our level of professional commitment and support for this office and its role is quite high. Elsewhere in the EU, there is enormous potential, but seldom the necessary institutional resources to put a systematic strategy and aligned effective operations in place.
At EBC Hochschule, we ponder the same key questions: We all know that the resources we have will not suffice to meet the actual needs of our students on a large scale; thus, how do we reduce cost, build capacity, improve skill and the knowledge base of our staff when it comes to international know-how?
I want to use this last post for Global Career Compass to briefly introduce a project that we are at currently working on – the European Centre for Career Development & Entrepreneurship. The idea we had was to build a “shared” transnational career service consortium of strategic partners that caters to the different international informational needs of “stakeholders” (i.e. students, career service officers, senior management or our partners).
The heart of this network will be a platform where we share resources like job-boards, application guides etc. and offer the possibility to match academics, students and other stakeholders who have an interest in entrepreneurship in terms of research or actual start-up cooperation. This will be accompanied by staff training weeks, summer schools and the like in order to develop internationally- aware staff and students. The aim is to keep the network small and foster deep relations between the involved career officers so that they truly benefit from their enlarged network in their day-to-day operations. At the same time, we actively will promote the model and share our experiences, since we want other institutions to copy the model (at least in Europe one could copy most measures and get them financed via the different ERASMUS+ KA I options).
I believe that a lot of small actively cooperating networks will have a larger impact and offer truly helpful student-centered support than a large consortium would have. Personal relations will be key if we want career officers to not only broaden their perspectives, but also obtain the tools necessary to assist students on a larger scale. A timeline and more concise project description can be found here: www.ecce.network.
Such a “trans-national” model can work when examining the success of the career service network run by the Technical University Chemnitz (https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/career-service/tcs/conference.php) that operates mainly between Germany and the Czech Republic (but which is also dedicated to creating a European network of Career Service offices that promotes the transnational collegial exchange of ideas and best practices).
These models have a lot of potential to add a new dimension to already existing EU university networks. The challenge will remain to find sustainable funding models and to scale the operations for a larger input (the only way I can realistically imagine this will happen is for such models to be based on enhanced web- and video services for essential services to reduce face-time and/or even more collaborative models on a regional/national and international scale) .
Black Students Studying Abroad & “The Next Great Migration”
Black lives matter for all international educators! And consider a very different approach to “pitching” the experience – as found in this essay.
This may be the most controversial title & theme I’ve ever written about. But it is not my idea, rather, it is the title of an op-ed in the Sunday New York Times of March 1, 2015, by Thomas Chatterton Williams: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/the-next-great-migration.html?_r=0
Williams is an African-American ex-pat who writes from Paris. The gist of his essay has to do with his outrage over “the extrajudicial police killings of black men and women across America.” And he asks why more black Americans are not considering migrating to a life abroad with less racism (for him) and perhaps more justice and economic opportunity abroad (not necessarily in France).
He writes: “…at a time when middle-class blacks remain unemployed at twice the rate of whites, and black college graduates have the same chance of being hired as high school-educated whites, the economic case for staying put is not airtight.”
And then comes his…
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Internationalization of Career Services at German Universities: Part II of III
Guest post by Jerome Rickmann
https://de.linkedin.com/in/jérôme-rickmann-4b992354/en
Director, International Talent Acquisition & Project Development
EBC Hochschule (a private multi-campus business school in Berlin)
In my last guest post, I described how German higher education institutions approach the internationalization of their career services mainly from an inbound perspective. So how about the outbound perspective? What can a student expect, when looking for an internship position or job outside of Germany? How are German universities preparing students to become a part of the global workforce?
Quoting again the GRC’s* survey results – around 39 % of the career services identified home students as their main target group when it comes to their internationalization efforts. At first glance, that doesn’t seem too bad, one wonders though: only around 10 % of German HEIs participated in the survey – is that a sign that the actual state of internationalization of career services is worse off than the data suggest? I fear so.
The data we have paints a pretty clear picture:
The preferred tool in offices of Career Services to prepare students seems to be organizing workshops that aim to enable them to find work abroad (how to write cover letters, application strategies, CV writing, language training) and/or to provide intercultural trainings to prepare graduates for a global workforce environment. The survey answers suggest that institutions quite often do not possess that knowledge internally but have to rely on external coaches to conduct these workshops. About 29 % provide job boards where also international job ads are published. It is unclear how many students benefit from such workshops and how well connected career services are internationally (to indicate the amount and frequency of international job offers, the fit for their specific student population and so on. Since the majority of services usually don’t have the resources to effectively develop national networks one can be quite sure that they don’t manage to do so on an international scale).
Universities rarely provide structured schemes that aim to facilitate placing students with employees abroad. Co-operation with third party providers on the other hand are rather frowned upon (which doesn’t mean that there isn’t a booming placement industry in Germany, but, few universities feel comfortable cooperating with these for-profit providers). The argument for avoiding that sort of co-operation is that one doesn’t want to engage with commercially driven enterprises. A strong argument pointing in the other direction would be that by avoiding such co-operation, there is no institution for quality control of these providers, thus leaving students to figure out for themselves the benefits or drawbacks of programs offered.
Altogether, it does not seem that career services really are fit to deliver the services and/or support to facilitate global work experiences for their students on a systematic large scale. Whilst that is, in my opinion, rather worrying (though it is debatable if it actually is their task to do so), what does work remarkably well is the provision of partial funding. Students can apply for ERASMUS+ internship funds and/or government funding (e.g. BAFöG) to receive some financial help when they go abroad (in 2013/2014, the National Agency managing ERASMUS funds alone allocated about 10,000,000 € for 6.500 students to do internships abroad and additional funding schemes are available).
*GRC = German Rector’s Conference – the leading voice of German Higher Ed Institutions: http://www.hrk.de/uploads/media/Umfrage_Internationalisierung_Auswertung.pdf
For further research, view this page: http://www.hrk.de/themen/internationales/arbeitsfelder/internationalisierung-der-career-services/
Part III in this guest post series will deal with current projects trying to foster the internationalization of career Services at German institutions
Tap Minority Serving Institutions to Increase Diversity in Study Abroad
I’m very pleased to have Dr. Gasman provide her insights on an issue which has bedeviled the international education field for decades. We have been well aware of the huge racial disparity among students who have the opportunity to study abroad – and despite the best intentions of both academic institutions and “provider” organizations, the numbers have only moved the needle of equality a tiny percent. But the new model partnership between the Penn Center and CIEE described here is promising.
If you also would like to place this issue in perspective, see this recent essay in The Hechinger Report on the higher ed “caste” system with respect to enrollment of low-income students: http://hechingerreport.org/fixing-a-higher-education-caste-system-that-screams-inequality-help-us-find-answ ers/
Guest post by Dr. Marybeth Gasman
Executive Director, Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions
Professor of Higher Education
University of Pennsylvania
Seventy-six percent of college students studying abroad are White and of those, 65 percent are women. Given the educational and career advantages that students studying abroad have, these figures demonstrate the inequities in society and American higher education for students of color. However, there are ways to ensure more diversity among students studying abroad. One way is to work with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to create opportunities.
There are roughly 600 federally designated MSIs throughout the nation and they educate 26% of all college students – a significant number. Of note, they educate half of all Latinos and nearly half of all Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Currently, only 3.6% of all students studying abroad hail from MSIs but that figure could be increased substantially. First, organizations focused on study abroad can partner with MSIs to make studying abroad easier, more affordable, and straightforward. Second, these same organizations can provide training for faculty and staff interested in leading study abroad experiences. Third, again, these same organizations can help to dispel myths around study abroad – around cost and safety – for MSI students and their parents. Many MSI students did not grow up traveling, are very close to their families, and come from low-income families. As such, dispelling myths is crucial to sending more MSI students and students of color in general abroad.
Over the past year, we at the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions have partnered with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) to create opportunities for MSIs. Our efforts speak to the Institute of International Education’s Generation Study Abroad initiative, which seeks to double the number of students going abroad. However, we are focused specifically on increasing the diversity of those students studying abroad. Most recently, we brought together a group of MSI presidents to discuss bold ideas for increasing participation among students of color in study abroad and how to make study abroad more feasible and accessible on their campuses. The partnership set several goals: 1.) To continue to bring MSI leaders together to explore bold ideas related to study abroad. For example, a study abroad program focused on STEM and held in conjunction with major tech company partners. 2.) To bring MSI provosts and faculty together to begin developing faculty-lead study abroad programs. 3.) To bring bold ideas, with multiple partners to CIEE for possible co-sponsorship.
This is just a start but we have more things planned in the coming years. Keeping our eyes on the inequities across opportunities in higher education is key to ensuring strong learning outcomes for all students.
A Global Kumbaya Moment: “We’ve Got the Whole World at University…Is It Worth It?
To start off the new year, consider this quote from a post which I think will remain a critical topic for debate and policy-action for years to come: “America’s universities are failing to deliver equity. People are prepared to pay through the nose to buy advantage for their children, so top institutions charge ever higher prices and acquire ever more resources, while those [colleges and universities] at the bottom get less.”
Leave it to those UK editors at The Economist! The special report in the March 28 issue: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21646985-american-model-higher-education-spreading-it-good-producing-excellence is an excellent overview , on a global scale, of the impact of massification of the higher education industry.
While crediting the U.S. and our research university system for launching the globalization of higher ed, they ask the $64,000 question: is it – or has it been – worth the investment of resources? Yes, the “return” on this investment is relatively greater in poorer nations, but, as we know, there is much doubt of late in Europe & North America. I love that they dug up this quote, from an Arthur Miller play, produced in 1946: “Everybody’s gettin so goddam educated in this country they’ll be nobody around to take away the garbage…You stand on the street today and spit, you’re gonna hit a college man [remember , it’s 1946].”
As…
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2015 Blog Stats In Review
I’d like to express my appreciation to those of you – from almost 100 nations- who stopped by the blog to read and reflect for a few minutes…It’s been a tumultuous year on many continents – a year with far too much violence (is there ever one without?).
Going forward, I’m particularly concerned about the refugee crisis in Europe and its long-term impact on the education systems of so many nations given the large number of children and youth who have arrived to start new lives.
Please continue to follow me on twitter and LinkedIn in 2016.
From my perch in Washington, DC, I’d like to wish everyone a happy and safe new year! –Marty Tillman @tillman_marty
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,600 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.
A Call to (Open) Arms for U.S. Higher Education
The author makes a critical point about the prospects of the rising numbers of internsational students providing a window on the world for U.S. students who might otherwise have little opportunity to interact with non-American students. However, this presumes that every campus recruiting international students is fully prepared to provide the student support services needed to develop opportunities for intercultural learning to take place! We know this is not the case on many campuses…
Global Career Compass 