Intelligent careers of a resilient mobile workforce: Edu‐immigrants
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Francine Schlosser,Duncan Lam,Gerry Kerr |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12852 |
International Migration. 2022;60:49–64.
|
49
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
Although the concept of migration and international education is not completely new, the sudden and dramatic
expansion of the gl obal education syst em has created a situation in so me western countries in w hich the growth in
international s tudent populatio ns has far outstri pped domestic st udents. For exampl e, the numbers of inter national
students studying in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have steadily increased over the past
20 years (Sá & Sabza lieva, 2018). Furthermor e, the political, dem ographic and economi c conditions in source coun-
tries have shape d a stronger desire for individu als to utilize international educ ation as a pathway to immigrate to
western countr ies (Liu- Farrer, 2009; Thomas & I nkpen, 2017). With the ensui ng expansion of the global ed ucation
Received: 19 Octo ber 2020
|
Revised: 25 Janua ry 2021
|
Accepted: 17 March 2021
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12852
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Intelligent careers of a resilient mobile workforce:
Edu- immigrants
Francine Schlosser| Duncan Lam | Gerry Kerr
© 2021 The Author s. Internationa l Migration © 2021 IOM
Odette Scho ol of Business, Uni versity
of Windsor, Winds or, Ontario N9B 3P4,
Canada
Correspondence
Francine Schlosser, Entrepreneurship and
Innovation, O dette School of Bu siness,
Universit y of Windsor, Windsor, Onta rio,
Canada, N9B 3 P4
Email: fschloss@uwindsor.ca
Funding information
Building Migr ant Resilience in Ci ties/
Immigratio n et résilience en mili eu
urbain Socia l Sciences and Huma nities
Research Council of Canada Partnership
Grant, Grant/Award Number: SSHRC
896- 2016- 1004
ABSTRACT
We extend the intelligent career framework to support
a rapidly expanding nascent and mobile workforce: edu-
immigrants. Edu- immigrants undertake international
post- secondary education for the purpose of remain-
ing and working in a new country. Interviews were con-
ducted with community stakeholders, which informed the
development of a cross- sectional open- ended survey of
374 edu- immigrants. The more resilient relied upon their
own coping strategies to seek permanent settlement and
career aid. They were challenged by a lack of a perceived
legitimate stake and few key “knowing whom” contacts.
Universities and community can facilitate the establish-
ment of supportive social and professional networks for
edu- immigrants. Our f indings contribute by providing new
knowledge about the universality of the intelligent career
in the context of internat ional education and immigration .
[Correcti on added on 30 Jul y 2021, after fir st online publ ication: Seve ral descript ions have been revi sed in this versi on to protect the c onfidential ity
of research pa rticipant s.]
50
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SchloSSeretal.
system, poli cymakers in the United St ates, U.K., Cana da, Australia and New Ze aland have approache d international
students qu ite differently (Sá & Sabz alieva, 2018). The United States h as focused on limiting the i mmigration path-
way of internationa l students, wher eas Canada, Austr alia and New Zealand have de veloped policies th at encourage
students to immigrate (Akbari & MacDonald, 2014). Other Eu ropean countrie s have used Erasmus excha nges to
increase inter national education. Rese arch based on Erasmus exchan ges conducted by Bryla (2019) noted ge nder,
disciplinar y and degree level differ ences in the intent of Polish st udents to live abroad af ter graduation.
A significant nu mber of international stude nts can be categorized as “edu- immigr ants” who embark on inter-
national educ ation with the simultan eous objective of gainin g employment and residen cy in the country in which
they study. Such mig rants arrive with premeditated goals of securing employment and settling down as permanent
residents or ci tizens in the country of the ir schooling. As a result , edu- immigrants f all into a hybrid category co m-
bining qualitie s of international stude nts and skilled or econom ic migrants.
Recent research c omparing public policy an d international student recr uitment underscored the n eed for di-
alogue among policymakers at all levels of government, including recognition that policy changes must reflect
the challenges e xperienced by edu- immigrant s as they transition into thei r adopted country's labou r market and
society (Sá, & S abzalieva, 2018). This position gen erates unique needs for supp ort services; yet, edu- immigrants
may be left to fend fo r themselves while simulta neously pursuing a post- seconda ry education and prepar ing for
employment opportunities and settlement.
We propose that it is im portant for edu- immigrant s to overcome challenges related to c areer agency so that
they can att ain knowledge, secure work a nd create value that are attr active to their targete d adoptive countries.
Consequentl y, we extend the intelligent caree r framework to support t he nascent and mobile work force embod-
ied by edu- immi grants by examining t he development of caree r capital related to 1) kn owing why, 2) knowing how
and 3) knowing who m (Arthur, Claman & DeFilli ppi, 1995). Prior research on the inte lligent career has focuse d on
the role of organiza tions as they help employees mana ge their careers intelligen tly (e.g. Zikic, 2015), but the work
does not consider t he concept's usefulnes s with respect to indivi duals not yet employed.
Resilience seem s a requirement in such circums tances, and prior resea rchers have examined the re silience of
international s tudents by focusing on their edu cational experience and jour ney (e.g. Cole, Feild & Harris, 2004;
Glass, Koc iolek, Wongtrir at et al., 2015 ). Migration has presented con comitant new c hallenges for c areer coun-
sellors. The se demands include the need t o understand the varied n eeds of temporary migrant s and to respond
to these needs with new service models of career guidance and counselling (Bimrose & McNair, 2011). However,
there is no curre nt research investigati ng the resilience of edu- immigrants who are under taking education f or the
purpose of remai ning and working in a new country. To fill this g ap, our study will explore two re lated research
questions: 1) How d o edu- immigrants d emonstrate qualiti es of resilience? 2) How can edu- immigrants streng then
resilience through intelligent career pathways?
Our research underscores the role of individual agency and examines the relationship between intelligent
career capital and resilien ce (Poulsen & Art hur, 2005). We build on prior research that exa mines how compa-
nies build value by adapting the intelligent c areer framework to skilled- migrant employees (Ziki c, 2015). We will
explore how edu- immi grants build resilience as th ey navigate their educational j ourney towards permanent res-
idence, building an understanding of what edu- immigr ants lack and who can provide support. This r esearch re-
sponds to calls for more analysis of the transition from international education to permanent residency and its
resulting soci o- economi c implications (Thomas & Ink pen, 2017). We focus on the plight of edu- immigr ants who
have different se ttlement needs than temp orary migrants such as i nternational students . We consider how edu-
immigrants m anage the process of migrat ion and labour market incl usion, and, more speci fically, we contribute by
offering insig ht into their career capit al. Additionally, we inform th e small but growing body of rese arch that uses
resilience to inves tigate migration and set tlement challenges (A kbar & Preston, 2020).
To our knowledge, this study is the first empirical exp loration of the potential to strengthen edu- immigrant
resilience by using the intelligent career concept. Th ere is limited research on the role of gove rnment and non-
governmental organizations in supporting migr ant resilience (e.g. Maiter & Stalker, 2011; Si mich Roche & Ayto n,
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