The employability of international branch campus graduates: evidence from Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the employability of international branch campus (IBC) students and graduates in Malaysia, including their possession of transnational skills and knowledge, and the role of IBC educational characteristics in improving such employability. Design/methodology/approach A combination of employer interviews (n=21) and a survey of Malaysian students (n=246) enrolled at four IBCs are used in this study. Thematic and matrix analyses were applied to the interviews and multivariate analysis to the survey responses. Findings IBC graduates are well-equipped with the skills and attributes that employers find most important, in particular, soft skills and personal attributes. The development of these employability attributes is related to IBC educational characteristics and international exposure on campus – with important heterogeneity among IBCs and curricula. However, IBC education does not strongly improve the transnational human capital of Malaysian students and is only a partial substitute for education abroad in this respect. Originality/value This paper is one of the few studies that examine the employability of students that graduate from IBC universities, a type of education that has received only limited scholarly attention. It also broadens the scope of the debate on the relation between international experience and employability by examining whether receiving an IBC education in one’s home country can lead to the development of transnational human capital. Finally, it provides new insights on the returns to (higher) education by directly measuring students’ acquisition of skills and examining the role educational characteristics play in this.