A Missing Link Between Employability and Internationalization? Exploring International Students’ Experiences of Networking During Study

Abstract

Normative discursive constructions of the social networking of international students coalesce around either adjustment/acculturation narratives in internationalization studies or theoretical exposition of social capital in employability-related discourses. These two strands of work reiterate the observation that normative discourses around internationalization and employability are unconnected, and this remains an under-researched area. In this chapter, I aim to contribute to bridging this gap by presenting findings from qualitative research conducted with international students studying at a Scottish university. The results reveal international students’ agentic constructions of perceived employability via (i) professional networking facilitated by work-integrated learning, (ii) connections with an international student cohort, and (iii) networking into the broader host society. This chapter adds to recent work that challenges deficit narratives around international student experience and under-representation in the extant literature of their agentic capabilities in navigating the social structures of international HE.