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Career Expectations of International and Domestic Students in Canada

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Abstract

Recruitment of high-quality international students requires meeting their career-related needs. The present study compares the career expectations of international students from various origins with those of their domestic peers. Data were collected from 23,950 students in Canadian Universities, 3,020 of whom were international students. Results indicated that while all groups had the same top work attributes and career goals, there were significant differences between international and domestic students across indicators. Similarly, regardless of origins, international students had the same top priorities, with significantly different expectations. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Vol.:(0123456789)
International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2023) 23:77–96
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10775-021-09504-0
1 3
Career expectations ofinternational anddomestic students
inCanada
MostafaAyoobzadeh1 · SeanLyons2 · LindaSchweitzer3
Received: 14 December 2020 / Accepted: 9 September 2021 / Published online: 8 October 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract
Recruitment of high-quality international students requires meeting their career-
related needs. The present study compares the career expectations of international
students from various origins with those of their domestic peers. Data were collected
from 23,950 students in Canadian Universities, 3020 of whom were international
students. Results indicated that while international and domestic students had the
same top work attributes and career goals, there were significant differences between
them across indicators. Similarly, international students from various origins had the
same top priorities, with significantly different expectations. Implications for theory
and practice are discussed.
Résumé
Le recrutement des étudiants internationaux de qualité nécessite de répondre à leurs
besoins en matière de carrière. La présente étude compare les attentes profession-
nelles des étudiants internationaux de diverses origines à celles de leurs homologues
nationaux. Les données ont été recueillies auprès de 23 950 étudiants d’universités
canadiennes, dont 3 020 étaient des étudiants étrangers. Les résultats indiquent que si
les étudiants internationaux et nationaux ont les mêmes caractéristiques profession-
nelles et objectifs de carrière, il existe des différences significatives entre eux selon
les indicateurs. De même, les étudiants internationaux de diverses origines avaient les
mêmes priorités majeures, avec des attentes sensiblement différentes. Les implica-
tions pour la théorie et la pratique sont discutées.
* Mostafa Ayoobzadeh
ayoobzadeh.mostafa@uqam.ca
Sean Lyons
slyons01@uoguelph.ca
Linda Schweitzer
linda.schweitzer@carleton.ca
1 School ofManagement, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
2 Gordon S. Lang School ofBusiness andEconomics, University ofGuelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
3 Sprott School ofBusiness, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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Thesis
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