Exploring the effects of international experiences on graduates’ employability development: a comparative study on Sino-UK international joint universities
通过对比中英联合大学与中国普通大学毕业生的自评就业技能，发现联合大学毕业生在就业能力上更具优势，且与跨文化经历正相关，但某些职场关键能力的增长仍存疑。
Sino-foreign international joint universities, as a unique mode of transnational education (TNE), are claimed to inculcate talent for the globalised market. However, despite their prominent role, little is known about how well TNE graduates from joint universities fare in China’s highly competitive graduate job market. To fill the research gap, this research explored the impact of multiple international experiences of the Sino-UK joint universities on graduates’ employability development. It collected quantitative survey data and qualitative interview information from over 100 recent graduates from international joint universities and a Chinese university to compare their self-assessed employability skills and looked into the effect of international and intercultural experiences on them. The results showed that graduates from the Sino-UK joint universities were more advantaged in self-assessed employability skills than graduates. The differences were found to be positively related to their participation in various forms of intercultural experiences but the degree of growth in certain competences which are valuable in the workplace was questioned. Taken together, these results suggest that joint universities, as an innovative form of TNE, may bring benefits to graduates’ employability development, while how specifically they promote labour market outcomes from the long-term perspective remains to be discussed.