Careers guidance and international students in Irish higher education: practitioner perspectives

Abstract

This article set out to examine four key themes identified in the literature as being central to the provision of effective career services for international students. The key themes are as follows: 1) Understanding international students’ capacity for cultural adaptation and integration, 2) Determining English language proficiency amongst international students, 3) The collectivist versus individualist orientation of students, 4) The skill of reflection and personal development planning. To explore these themes interviews were conducted with six staff members in careers services at Irish universities. Our findings supported the literature in that all six participants of this study agreed that the themes were significant when working with international students. The respondents also identified one further issue which did not appear in the literature which related to international students' expectations of the role of a careers service in helping them secure employment.

Keywords: International students, career counselling, third level, cultural adaptation