TY - JOUR
T1 - Try before you buy
T2 - a small business employer (SME) perspective of international student mobility in England
AU - Sutherland, Matthew
AU - Thompson , David
AU - Edirisingha, Prabash
PY - 2021/7/3
Y1 - 2021/7/3
N2 - Attracting international students has become a strategic priority for UK immigration policy as well as for British universities. However, research shows that there are emergent intercultural barriers that challenge international students’ carrier aspirations and inhibit their ability to find employment. Also, small business employers (SMEs) are becoming a significant force in the post-Brexit UK economy and integral to creating innovation and employment opportunities. Despite this significance, we do not know what SME owners view the value of international students and how these perceptual discourses shape international student experience and mobility. In response, this research investigates small business employer discourses relating to international student employability. We base our data collection in strategically important North East of England and draw from semi-structured in-depth interviews with small business employers from the region. Our findings discuss their perception of international students as well as universities and discuss how these prevailing discourses influence international students’ employability. We specifically show how socio-cultural dispositions of international students, dominant British employer and market discourses, and universities strategic pursuits interplay and contribute to challenges international students confront within the highly competitive and dynamic higher education environment.
AB - Attracting international students has become a strategic priority for UK immigration policy as well as for British universities. However, research shows that there are emergent intercultural barriers that challenge international students’ carrier aspirations and inhibit their ability to find employment. Also, small business employers (SMEs) are becoming a significant force in the post-Brexit UK economy and integral to creating innovation and employment opportunities. Despite this significance, we do not know what SME owners view the value of international students and how these perceptual discourses shape international student experience and mobility. In response, this research investigates small business employer discourses relating to international student employability. We base our data collection in strategically important North East of England and draw from semi-structured in-depth interviews with small business employers from the region. Our findings discuss their perception of international students as well as universities and discuss how these prevailing discourses influence international students’ employability. We specifically show how socio-cultural dispositions of international students, dominant British employer and market discourses, and universities strategic pursuits interplay and contribute to challenges international students confront within the highly competitive and dynamic higher education environment.
KW - International Students
KW - International Student Mobility
KW - Internships
KW - Work Based Learning
KW - small and medium-sized enterprises
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074465253&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03075079.2019.1680965
DO - 10.1080/03075079.2019.1680965
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85058823004
VL - 46
SP - 1256
EP - 1271
JO - Studies in Higher Education
JF - Studies in Higher Education
SN - 0307-5079
IS - 7
ER -