ERIC Number: EJ1436756
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2151-0393
EISSN: EISSN-2151-0407
An Exploratory Survey of Post-Graduation Employment Location Preferences among International Students in Missouri, USA
James Kaemmerer; Matt Foulkes
Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, v16 n3 p292-303 2024
This study examined the post-graduation employment location preferences of international students preparing to participate in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in the United States. An exploratory survey asked international students in their final semesters at three midwestern public universities to indicate their employment location preferences via an online text- and map-based questionnaire. Two main questions guided the research: 1) Do international students hold employment location preferences before graduation? and 2) Where in the United States do international students applying for OPT prefer to work? Results indicated the affirmative and that preference geographies extend well beyond the state in which the students earned their degrees. In applying for OPT, participants in this study signaled their intent to remain in-country. As such, the scale of analysis shifts from traditional country-to-country migration flows of international students to the internal movements within the host country in anticipation of post-graduation employment.
Descriptors: Foreign Students, College Graduates, Relocation, Career Planning, Job Search Methods, Graduate Surveys, Vocational Followup, Employment Patterns, Training Objectives, Migration Patterns, Occupational Surveys
Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education. 3107 B Hampton Highway, Yorktown, VA 23693. e-mail: oic213@lehigh.edu; Web site: https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jcihe/index
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Missouri
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A