Supporting (or not) the career development of culturally and linguistically diverse migrants and refugees in universities: insights from Australia

Abstract

The present study used a mixed-methods approach to understand the challenges faced by Australian higher education institutions in supporting the career development of students from culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee backgrounds. Specifically, this project included a desktop audit of all Australian universities, data from a survey ( n = 32) and interviews with staff in various functions ( n = 10). Four main challenges were identified: (1) difficulties in identifying and engaging with students; (2) a lack of targeted resources and programs; (3) difficulties faced by students in engaging with employers; and (4) a lack of work-readiness and unfamiliarity of Australian work culture.

The labour market integration of migrants and refugees: career guidance and the newly arrived

“…Awareness of such complexity has given rise to more sophisticated theoretical frameworks that acknowledge the multi-level interaction between individuals, groups, and social contexts in an effort to promote life-career development. Such approaches stress that social and economic contexts matter, and that it is not possible to promote career human agency of diverse populations without taking into account the dynamic interplay between cultural, contextual, and psychosocial factors in the life design process (Chen, 2008, p. 436;Dunwoodie et al, 2021).…”