Engineering employability: Local and international student views in an Australian context

Employability has been an important topic for research over the years with many definitions and models emerging. Owing to the changing nature of engineering careers, the concept of ‘self-managed careers’ is emerging, with the importance of sustainable employment for a successful career. Diversity in the Australian engineering higher education sector is significant, owing to representation of international students. The literature identifies differences in international students’ learning behaviour and challenges relating to employability compared with locals. Student understanding is the ‘missing perspective’ in employability studies. The goal of this study is to explore engineering students’ understanding of the concept of employability and employability categories, and investigate differences in understanding between local and international students. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted. Data were collected from local and international engineering undergraduates at RMIT University, through focus groups and interviews in both face-to-face and online modes. To analyse participants’ views on the concept of employability, thematic analysis was used. Qualitative content analysis was carried out to analyse views on employability categories, mapping data into the categories in the CareerEDGE model of employability. NVivo aided the analysis.