The Impact of English Language Proficiency and Workplace Readiness on the Employment Outcomes of Tertiary International Students (Full Report)

This project examines the influence of English language proficiency (ELP) on workplace readiness and employment outcomes for international students and graduates who seek to work in Australia. The study adopts a mixed method approach involving a detailed review of relevant literature, semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups, and quantitative analyses of three statistical data sets — Australian 2006 Census data, Australian Education International (AEI) data from January 2002 to June 2008, and the former Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (October 2005 and October 2006). The qualitative data from the interviews enabled the authors to analyse the topic of investigation from several different perspectives including those of: international students and graduates; local (permanent resident or citizen) students and graduates; representatives of tertiary institutions and VET providers; recent offshore graduate job seekers with overseas qualifications; and Australian employers and regulatory bodies in five professional and three trade fields. The findings show that international students employment outcomes are not as good as their Australian domestic counterparts and that they face greater challenges in finding full-time employment after graduation. While ELP is a key factor influencing their employment outcomes — particularly if graduates have low levels of ELP — the findings from this study show that ELP is not the only or principal issue. Employers\u27 first priority is to engage graduates with strong profession-specific skills and then to consider their ‘well-roundedness’. The ‘well-roundedness’ includes graduates’ personal characteristics and attributes, the diversity of their experiences and skills, as well as their ‘cultural fit’ into the workplace. There is potential to respond to this expectation through policies and practices that support integrated approaches for enhancing ELP and workplace readiness within educational institutions, as well as increasing international students’ awareness of the value of the experiences and skills they can develop outside of their studies

Challenges faced by internationally educated health professionals on Prince Edward Island : stories and voices : a research report for IEHP Atlantic Connection

Acknowledgements / Executive Summary / Preamble / Background to Immigration to Atlantic Canada / ‘Major Concerns’ with Health Care Provision / Seeking, and Retaining, Internationally Educated Health Professionals / How welcoming is the Host Society / This Research Project / The Respondents / Coming to PEI / Staying, or Not Staying, on PEI / Working on PEI / Attracting Other Immigrants / Identification of Main Obstacles or Problems / A Wider Discussion / Policy Implications / Conclusion / References.This report is based on a qualitative study of the challenges that are faced by internationally educated health professionals in coming, staying and settling on PEI and in Atlantic Canada. Health issues would not tend to feature highly amongst the list of features that lure and attract newcomers to Atlantic Canada: but they discourage immigrants from moving in, or residents from staying, when health provision is deemed to be below expected levels of service. Health, therefore, figures as one of the concerns of immigrants (Canadian and non-Canadian, men and women, and across all age cohorts) deciding whether to stay in Atlantic Canada. Major disappointment and frustration are expressed with respect to the non-availability of a family doctor, and/or the nonavailability of, or uncertainty about, specialized care and surgical procedures. Moreover, in areas that have relatively sparse and scattered populations that are remote from urban centres, health professionals can develop dangerous levels of work-related stress, plus much reduced opportunities for specialization or any form of non-experience driven professional development.peer-reviewe

Challenges of Creating a Knowledge-Based Society: Education & Research for India & Gujarat

Presented at the World Gujarat Conference, Edison, NJ, August 30, 2008

Abstracts from the Nineteenth Annual Conference National Association for Ethnic Studies. Inc. Ethnic Studies for the Twenty-first Century

With the leadership of James H. Williams, Tengemana Thumbutu, and the staff of the College of Arts at California State Polytechnic University, NAES had one of its best-attended conferences ever. Participants enjoyed the sunny and smog-free skies of spring in California and the amenities of the Kellogg West Conference Center while renewing their commitment to the need to study and implement current research in ethnic studies