Enhancing Employability Skills Through Internships: Perceptions of Foreign Master Students in Germany

Abstract

This paper investigates foreign postgraduate students' perceptions of learning and deploying employability skills through internships at German companies. It presents a mixed-method qualitative survey combining a student self-assessment questionnaire and in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis of data collected from nine participants results in the development of 18 themes related to learning and deploying employability skills. These themes provide a provisional resource for internship stakeholders -students, academic advisors and internship providers -for developing ways to enhance internship learning outcomes.

A Grounded Theory Study of the Job-Seeking Experiences of Foreign Graduates on the German Job Market

“…P3 and P4 discussed the need to immerse in the German society in order to decide whether they want to stay in long term. Kapanen et al [14] suggest that study-related internships contribute significantly to foreign student employability and may have a similar impact on acculturation, as well.…”