Recently, research scholars across several disciplines have paid increasing attention to graduate returnee phenomenon as the number of international returnees is increasing, especially in emerging economies (i.e., China, Vietnam). However, little has been documented on the connection between their overseas study and career development experiences in their home country and how this connection is conceptualised by graduate returnees across various countries. This comparative study responds to the current research gap by exploring motivation and career development experiences of Vietnamese returnees from Australian and Japanese universities, which are the two most popular destinations for the Vietnamese students (MOET, 2016). The project employs a mixed-method approach using a questionnaire with 77 graduates and in-depth interviews with 10 graduate returnees of Australian and Japanese universities.
Regarding their study motivation and experience, we compare the questionnaire responses of 27 graduates of Australian universities and 50 graduates of Japanese universities who started their study abroad between 1998 and 2015. Our findings revealed the participants selected Australia as their study destination due to Australia’s quality education and good living environment, their English learning experience and their desire to work in Australia in the future. By comparison, their counterparts chose Japan due to Japan’s quality education and advanced research, their interest in Japanese culture and geographical and psychological proximity. Both groups were satisfied with their study experience. However, the graduates of Australian universities seem to face more difficulty in obtaining employment in Australia.
Then, we compared the questionnaire responses of 21 graduates of Australian universities and 17 graduates of universities who returned and worked in Vietnam; in the former group, 48% work for educational institutions, 29% work for Vietnamese or third country companies while in the latter group, 59% work for Japanese companies and 12% work for educational institutions. Significant difference were found in their satisfaction with working condition in Vietnam (e.g., supervision, duty clarity, social benefits), the ability to connect home and host countries (e.g., transferring home culture to host country and vice versa), and the dynamics of their contribution in organisations (e.g., personal network and acquired language). From the above result, we can see the characteristics of career formulation pattern of the graduates of Australian and Japanese universities. We can also draw several important implications for policy and career support of international students. They include knowledge about international job market, career choice consultation, customization of skills, networking ability, more practical components, and a global thinking perspective.
各種検索
サポート
ヘルプ