Global Career Compass

Ipsos is a leading global market research company that published a study, How America Pays for College: Sallie Mae’s National Study of College Students and Parents – https://www1.salliemae.com/NR/rdonlyres/BAF36839-4913-456E-8883-ACD006B950A5/14952/HowAmericaPaysforCollege_2011.pdf –  last August (only just learned of the report). Why am I commenting on this?  I’ve believed that since the onset of the recession, that families were holding very different conversations with their children about paying for college — and that this practical appraisal would trickle around to the “value-added” of such extra-curricular events as study abroad.  Wouldn’t leaving the country hurth their child’s chances of  finding a job after graduation?  Why not go for a paid summer internship – isn’t that more practical?

While the Ipsos study does cite increased numbers of families stretching their budgets to pay for college, they are, in fact, paying less for tuition thanks to increased financial aid opportunities.  But what interests me is the following quote from the summary:

This year’s survey shows an increase in the practical value of a college education to families. Ninety percent of students strongly agreed that college “is an investment in the future,” an increase from 84 percent in 2010. More than seven in 10 strongly agreed both that a college education is necessary for the student’s desired occupation and that college is required to earn more money, up from 64 and 61 percent, respectively, in 2010. Conversely, agreement that college is part of achieving the American dream declined for both parents and students, from a combined 51 percent in 2010 to 44 percent this year.

Will families believe that the chance to study abroad is of practical value to their child when he/she comes home in their junior year and is excited about going to London or Cairo? Can campus advisors provide the kind of narrative that students can carry home and present in a convincing way to their parents?

Thanks to Nancy Ericksen, Assistant Director for Study Abroad, Trinity University for compiling this eclectic list of publications, blog posts and campus programs when recently polling NAFSA colleagues about resources on study abroad & employment [also see my article, “The Right Tool for the Job” in the 2005 NAFSA International Educator]:

My addition to Nancy’s list is the invaluable blog by David Comp at University of Chicago: “Education Abroad and its Value in the Job Market”  http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2010/10/education-abroad-and-its-value-in-job.html

The Return of Investment on Study Abroad: http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-roi-of-studying-abroad-infographic – a creative visual “infographic” without sources for stats- but a great tool for discussion with students.

“Employers Attitudes Towards Study Abroad” from the *Frontiers : The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad” Volume
XIV, Fall 2007, Stevan Trooboff, Council for International Educational Exchange Michael Vande Berg, Council for International Educational Exchange Jack Rayman, The Pennsylvania State University.

Kevin Murphy of CEA has a recent blog: http://www.ceastudyabroadblog.com/2012/01/whats-in-story-talking-about-study.html;
Brooke Roberts’ “Inside Study Abroad”

Michigan State: http://studyabroad.isp.msu.edu/studenthandbk/returning/sell_your_experience.html
“Unpacking Your Study Abroad Experience” by Linda Grossman at Michigan State: http://ceri.msu.edu/publications/pdf/brief1-2008final.pdf

Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad” Volume XVIII Fall 2009*.

“The Georgetown Consortium Project: Interventions for Student Learning
Abroad” authored by Michael Vande Berg, Council on International Educational Exchange,
Jeffrey Connor-Linton, Georgetown University, R. Michael Paige, University  of Minnesota Twin Cities
http://www.frontiersjournal.com/documents/FrontiersXVIII-Fall09-VandeBerg-ConnorLinton-Paige_000.pdf

Other articles:
http://chronicle.com/article/Study-Abroad-Gets-an-Image/124979/
http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Help-Students-to/123653/
http://www.abroadview.org/avmag/2008fall_larsson.htm
http://www.capa.org/alumni/career-resources
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/20/studyabroad

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/blogs/thenextgreatgeneration/2012/02/go_abroad_get_hired_corporate.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-01-18/study-abroad-global-economy-travel/52650834/1.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/blogs/thenextgreatgeneration/2012/02/go_abroad_get_hired_corporate.html

http://www.willamette.edu/dept/oie/pdf/studyabroad_career.pdf

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/studyabroadmagazine/2006Fall/marketing_your_study_abroad.shtml

http://www.abroadview.org/avmag/2008fall_larsson.htm

This is a selective list…Send your suggestions to me at martyjtillman@gmail.com

This interesting study reveals that no matter how well prepared employees believe they are as a result of being hired, they cannot count on their employer to do a good job of providing on-the-job skills training which would create conditions for promotion and advancement.

The majority (55 percent) of workers in the U.S. report they are under pressure to develop additional skills to be successful in their current and future jobs, but only 21 percent say they have acquired new skills through company-provided formal training during the past five years, according to a study released today by Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

I attended a fascinating and important session which discussed this incredibly large-scale survey of employers at recent AIEA conference in DC.  You can read the full findings at:  http://content.qs.com/qs/qs-global-employer-survey-2011.pdf  There is a useful brief overview of past research – incomplete but representative – on employer perspectives from the U.S. and Europe [principally ERASMUS].

With the response to the initial question, the QS Global Employer Survey has for the first time produced a global benchmark figure on how employers value an international study experience when recruiting graduates. The global weighted average of 60% affirmative is more positive than findings from most of this type of research that has been conducted in the past at a regional level on smaller sample sizes. As such the result can be taken as an encouraging sign for those around the world participating in and sponsoring international learning mobility. A majority of employers globally value an international study experience when recruiting.

What is so interesting in this survey is the data points comparing responses to the question, “Do you actively seek or attribute value to an international study experience when recruiting?”  I’m not aware of this question being addressed so directly in any other research report.  Nor has any previous research been conducted on such a vast global scale.  Findings are summarized by country, industry and in detail, by job title [this is very revealing as there is a significant difference between responses of CEOs & their own HR managers!].

Report’s closing observation –which I fully support:

Higher education institutions need to be attuned to the needs of the global recruitment market in order to prepare graduates for future workplace demands. As a driver of economic growth,universities and colleges play an important role in understanding global trends and providing teaching and learning opportunities that will support their students in developing the skills and knowledge they need to be future leaders.International education opportunities need to be responsive to global market demand.

I’d urge blog readers to follow the QS surveys –this is the second (there was one in 2010) – in coming years as they will begin to have sufficient data to analyze their data over time to track country/industry trends more carefully.

This CHE Commentary is a useful summary of the challenges and obstacles of conceiving and implementing service-learning programs.  As someone involved in the creation of the first nonprofit organization sponsoring S-L programs, the Partnership for Service-Learning, circa 1980, the issues addressed here are not new.   http://chronicle.com/article/International-Volunteer/130459/?sid=gn&utm_source=gn&utm_medium=en

I do like the linkage the authors make between campus internationalization policies and best practices with respect to providing opportunities for students to  “unpack”  their overseas experiences as articulated in this statement:

Students return to campus, where there is often a stark juxtaposition between their campus bubble and the culture they lived in and the conditions they experienced. We have heard from colleagues that higher education has yet to fully maximize this “post-experience” phase. How do we institutionalize this phase in our curricula and cocurricular offerings such that students can translate their experiences back to their lives on campus? They should be able to say what they learned about themselves and the world and how their learning will inform their choice of courses, majors, and careers. This learning, like all meaningful learning, takes time to develop.

To review the excellent research and analysis of experiential learning theory and practice of  The Partnership – now named The International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership – go to http://www.ipsl.org/services/publications

http://usablog.britishcouncil.org/?p=1068:  from blogger for the British Council:

The survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of hiring managers (73%!) view UK degrees as “the same or better than those earned in the US.”  The same or better!  That is a whole-hearted endorsement of a UK degree if ever I heard one.  But prospective employers valued more than just the degree. The research also identified core-learning elements that employers liked, and associated with the UK higher education system. These included the tutorial style of learning, earlier specialization in specific subject areas, and increased independent study.

… But there are also lessons that UK universities can take from these results and apply to raise that number even higher.  Ipsos acknowledged that the high favorability of UK degrees might be attributable to a “halo effect” cast by top UK universities like Oxford and Cambridge, and did not reflect a deep understanding of the UK education system.  That would be the equivalent of all international employers assuming that any US degree is the same as one from Harvard or Yale—it simply does not account for the tremendous diversity of higher education system as a whole.

Well, there are certainly large disparities in all societies when it comes to perceptions of “value” of degrees from particular academic institutions.  Nothing new about that.  I was surprised to learn that this issue has apparently not been widely researched in the UK.

This article in the Washington post presents a stark contrast between our two nations with regard to the role of community colleges in preparing students for entry into the workforce:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/canadian-2-year-colleges-show-path-to-jobs/2012/01/25/gIQAkhtZaQ_story.html

“Hugely popular for emphasizing practical skills that lead directly to careers, community colleges — most of which simply call themselves colleges, as opposed to universities — get much of the credit for making Canada second in the world in the percentage of young people ages 25 to 34 who hold some sort of postsecondary degree, according to a 2011 report from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. More than half of all Canadians have such degrees, and half of those went to community college.”

Two years at Canadian colleges does not appear to have the stigma that attending community colleges has in the U.S.  In fact, this article highlights the success “colleges” in Canada have had in placing students in jobs they’ve been trained for –an outcome which is not found universally with the U.S. two-year system.  I’m no expert on our community colleges (although I did work at Rockland CC for three years in the 80’s), but, in light of the current debate on whether or not the value of our traditional four-year degree has been tarnished in the current recession, this article does present new evidence that we need to strengthen our own “alternative” to four years of college for students who seek an affordable  fast-track degree which prepares them -in a more direct way- to enter the workforce.  I’m not now going to enter the debate about the value-added of the U. of Phoenix et al….!

You can find my reviews in the International Educator magazine several times a year:  http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nafsa/ie_20120102/index.php#/22 .  This one is on integrating study abroad into the curriculum.  The book challenges the traditional orthodoxy that study abroad, in and of itself, completes a campus strategy for internationalization.

We have a sweet spot in our heart for Greece- our daughter studied abroad with College Year in Athens her Junior year at Penn.  The gut-wrenching economic crisis has created tremendous unrest and hardship. And it has dramatically altered the future for Greek students: see http://www.economist.com/node/21542815 for insights into the new problem of brain drain.  “Since 2008, ever more young people have gone [abroad] often to foreign universities.”  University graduates face dim employment prospects with youth unemployment now at 47%.  In the coming decade, Greece’s population will age as its workforce shrinks – and its best and brightest build careers overseas.