TND Migration Consulting

My PhD research examined international students’ IT graduate employability in Australia, focusing on the challenges they experienced, how they learned, and how they developed and enacted agency to navigate the transition from education to employment.

 

My dissertation (Monash University, 2024) was titled: "The Lived Experiences of Employability for Australian University International IT Graduates: Challenges, Learning and Agency."

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The study was theoretically and methodologically innovative, employing a qualitative design grounded in Deleuze and Guattari’s Assemblage Theory and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning Theory to explore experiential learning and the practice of agency in securing IT employment after graduation. The findings also revealed the central role of migration desires in shaping international IT graduates’ learning, adaptability, and employability journeys.

Link to Thesis https://doi.org/10.26180/27022453.v1

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Regarding the thesis, my examiners said:

 

“The thesis offers illuminations on the challenges, aspirations, and strategies of international IT
graduates in Australia, based on interesting in-depth interview data. Draving on the conceptual
framework integrating Assemblage Theory and Social Cognitive Learning Theory, this study
sheds light on the key factors and complex dynamics underpinning international graduates’
encounter and navigation of challenges and their journeys of enacting agency and strategising
to gain a foothold in the host labour market in Australia.”

Professor Ly Tran, PhD, Deakin University, Melbourne

 

“The study has made theoretical contributions and innovations and has the potential to make the academic, professional and lived experiences of international students more positive and realistic. The implications and recommendations have the potential to impact the higher education sector dramatically.”

Professor David Forrest, PhD, RMIT, Melbourne