Career Plan for International Students
The career plan of international students at the University of Glasgow
Introduction
Currently, a growing number of international students start to worry about their future career after graduation, especially those suffering from the severe pressure of unemployment and economic downturn in their hometown. Although they have gained the experience of studying and living abroad, most overseas students with more job opportunities than their contemporaries in their hometown are still bedeviled by problems like what is the best future career plan and how to find a good position with a high salary. What is worse, the number of students with similar oversea experience is increasing rapidly, compared with the shrinking employment opportunities globally. Therefore, a better understanding of the future career plan and the current situation of employment is essential to international students studying at the University of Glasgow. The group project aims to explore the factors that influence international students’ decision making about their future career plans and their opinions towards career services at the University of Glasgow.
Methods
First, our research was conducted by questionnaires distributed to 30 pre-sessional students at the University of Glasgow. The sample of students included 26 Chinese students, 2 Japanese students, 1 Thai student and 1 Brazilian student. It was a mixed group consisting of 18 females and 12 males. We distributed our questionnaires both on campus and in accommodation face to face.
The questionnaire had 7 open questions and 9 close questions. It was divided into three parts. The first part was about students’ personal information and academic background, such as gender, age, nationality and major. Based on that information, we hoped to find the factors influencing students’ future career plans. The second part investigated students’ career plans after graduation. Here two main choices were provided: further study and employment. For
Introduction
Currently, a growing number of international students start to worry about their future career after graduation, especially those suffering from the severe pressure of unemployment and economic downturn in their hometown. Although they have gained the experience of studying and living abroad, most overseas students with more job opportunities than their contemporaries in their hometown are still bedeviled by problems like what is the best future career plan and how to find a good position with a high salary. What is worse, the number of students with similar oversea experience is increasing rapidly, compared with the shrinking employment opportunities globally. Therefore, a better understanding of the future career plan and the current situation of employment is essential to international students studying at the University of Glasgow. The group project aims to explore the factors that influence international students’ decision making about their future career plans and their opinions towards career services at the University of Glasgow.
Methods
First, our research was conducted by questionnaires distributed to 30 pre-sessional students at the University of Glasgow. The sample of students included 26 Chinese students, 2 Japanese students, 1 Thai student and 1 Brazilian student. It was a mixed group consisting of 18 females and 12 males. We distributed our questionnaires both on campus and in accommodation face to face.
The questionnaire had 7 open questions and 9 close questions. It was divided into three parts. The first part was about students’ personal information and academic background, such as gender, age, nationality and major. Based on that information, we hoped to find the factors influencing students’ future career plans. The second part investigated students’ career plans after graduation. Here two main choices were provided: further study and employment. For