International education and graduate employability: Australian Chinese graduates’ experiences

This article investigates how international educational experiences affect the employment opportunities of Chinese who graduated from an Australian university. Findings based on 26 semi-structured interviews highlight that Chinese students who graduated from Australia gained a web of capital (i.e., human, cultural, psychological and identity), which facilitated their employment upon return home. However, social capital, which is critical in China, was a weakness for Chinese students who graduated from overseas institutions. The findings have provided strong evidence that Chinese students’ employability benefited from studying overseas. This research utilised the Tomlinson’s Graduate Capital Model to an international education context. It has implications for Chinese students on how they could benefit from studying overseas and for universities that recruit Chinese international students.