Underemployment and the Struggles of International Students

This presentation discusses the struggles faced by international students in terms of underemployment and its impact on their mental health. It explores issues such as communication, language barrier, cultural shock, and financial problems. The presentation also highlights the use of design thinking tools to address these challenges.

UNDEREMPLOYMENT AND THE
STRUGGLES OF THE
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Name of Student
Name of University

Introduction
• The recent decade has seen an increase
in the number of students going abroad
for higher education.
 Earning education outside of one’s own
comfort place is hard, and moving out of
one’s own country for higher education
gets tougher.
 Underemployment includes employees in full-
time jobs who cannot use all their skills.
Students studying abroad fall a prey to this.
They hardly realize that they are killing their
potentials and when they realize it, they get

International Students and some of their
issues
International students faces several issues while studying abroad. The
majority of the issues faced by them are as follows:
Underemployment and struggling to pay their bills
Communication
Language barrier
Cultural Shock
Financial problems

Underemployment- the main issue
• Underemployment after completion of college: The final peg in the
coffin would be not getting a job after the completion of the course.
Such instances not only degrade the mental status of the student but
also challenges the further sustenance in that particular country.
• Graduates represent a growing proportion of individuals entering the
workforce. They are forced to take up a job in order to meet their daily
needs, that does not match their educational qualification (Akanwa,
2015). They do not have any other option than entering a precarious
job market that is characterized by underemployment.
• Precarious work refers to low-skill, low-autonomy work , low wage that
undermines a person’s ability to fulfill their needs for survival and self-
determination.

Struggles associated with
underemployment
• Underemployed students lacked in the capability of
acquiring financial stability, strong social relations and self-
determination.
• Disgruntlement was reported, that their masters degree
experience contradicted previous messages about the
utilization of a degree from college in getting employed
(Mesidor & Sly, 2016).
• Being underemployed is depressing and moreover working
in an environment where everyone else has lower
educational level is difficult.

Financial status of family leads to
underemployment
• Sustenance in the foreign country gets difficult and is an added
expense for the family staying at some other country.
• The student opts for jobs irrespective of its nature that affects their
academic progress.
• Family expectations stop them from leaving the job though they are
not satisfied by the work environment.
• Underemployment highly demotivates the students and low income
often leads them to get involved in illegal jobs.

Underemployment- disturbs mind
• Affects the student mentally.
• Self-confidence gets broken.
• Leads the student into earning money by unjust or illegal means.
• Opting for illegal ways lands the student into legal charges.
• Legal charges leads the student into unpleasant stay in the
foreign country (Le, LaCost & Wismer, 2016).
• Understanding problems between the student and his/her family
due to the expectations of jobs after the completion of the
course.

Design Thinking Tools
• Design Thinking is considered to be non-linear process
which is also considered to be iterative process associated
with seeking for understanding the users along with
challenging the assumptions and refining the problems so
as to create innovative solutions for the prototype as well
as for the tests (Jackson & Bridgstock, 2018).
• The various tools of design thinking are: visualization, mind
mapping, value-chain analysis, customer co-creation,
learning launches, journey mapping, rapid content
development, assumption testing, story-telling and rapid
prototyping.

Design thinking tools- Visualization, and
underemployment
• Visualization is the design thinking tool which is entirely
associated with discussing about the usage of images
however it is not about drawing. This tool is associated with
pushing the users beyond the usage of words or languages
alone.
• Visualization can be a tool in case of underemployment as
it is associated with working as a way by which it is
possible to unlock the different parts of brain which is also
associated with allowing the students in thinking
nonverbally which might not be used by the managers
normally.

Design thinking tool- Value chain
analysis, and underemployment
• Value chain analysis is critical analysis to identify the key
players in the value chain. It is relevant for upgrading the
industry recommendations and helps in the growth of an
industry.
• In value chain analysis each stakeholder has a certain role
to contribute in the development of the firm.
• In the underemployment case this analysis can help in
providing specific training to increase efficiency and
productivity of the students.

Design thinking tool- Mind mapping, and
underemployment
• Mind mapping is the design thinking tool that is used for
the purpose of presenting the ways in which the ideas or
the other items are linked to a central idea or each other.
• Used for the purpose of creation along with the
visualization.
• In relation to underemployment it can be an effective tool
to achieve success by inculcating tem spirit in the students.

Design thinking tool- Customer Co-
creation, and underemployment
• Associated with the incorporation of the techniques which
is linked with allowing the managers in getting engaged
with the customers during generation of a process or
during developing a new business idea having multiple
interest.
• This techniques is associated with the incorporation of the
techniques which is associated with allowing the managers
in getting engaged with the freshers during generation of a
process or during developing a new business idea having
multiple interest so that the student gets a scope to
showcase his skills.

Design thinking tool- Learning launches
and underemployment
• Designed for the purpose of testing the key value-
generation underlying the assumptions related to the
potential initiative related to new-growth in the
marketplace (Yu, Fan & Lin, 2015).
• Learning launch helps in quick and inexpensive gathering
of the market-driven data that can help the underemployed
students to have a better understanding of the market
data.

Design thinking tool- Journey mapping
and underemployment
• Used with an object of identifying all the needs of the
customers which are often seen to be unable to
articulating.
• Termed as research mapping and focuses on the tracing of
the entire journey.
• In case of underemployment journey mapping can help in
testing by providing hypothesis.

Design thinking tool- Rapid content,
development and underemployment
• Associated with providing assistance in the generation of
hypothesis related to the potential and the new business
opportunities.
• It helps in quick generation of ideas.
• In this specific case rapid content development helps in e-
learning and acts as a source of motivation for the
students.

Design thinking tool- Assumption
testing, and underemployment
• Focuses upon the process of identifying the underlying
assumptions along with the new business ideas and the
available data for the purpose of assessing the likelihood of
the assumptions which will turn out to be true.
• This tool can help students to focus on the assumptions
they have for their work environment and they can
accordingly plan their future strategies.

Design thinking tool- Rapid prototyping,
and underemployment
• Associated with allowing the users in making of abstract
new ideas which are tangible to the potential partners and
the customers as well.
• Additive Manufacturing is just not a part within rapid
prototyping, but it is also helping students to design
positive evolution. The tool has been accepted globally
and has made in place in the scenario of underemployment
in the international students.

Design thinking tool- Story telling and
underemployment
• Associated with weaving together of the story rather than
just creating a series of points.
• This technique is closely related to the visualization which
has been discussed above (Chira, 2017).
• The technique is associated with allowing the users in
getting access to the emotions along with emphasizing
upon the experiences thus helping the underemployed
students.

Conclusion
International students face several problems while studying
abroad. They find it hard to cope up with the financial
stresses and face severe constraints in paying their tuition
fees. There comes the concept of underemployment.
Students are ready to do any kind of job. They think its
better to be underemployed than being jobless.
It affects their mental health as they realize that according to
their level of education they deserve to be in a better place
.

References
• Akanwa, E. E. (2015). International students in western developed countries:
History, challenges, and prospects. Journal of International Students, 5(3), 271-284
• Mesidor, J. K., & Sly, K. F. (2016). Factors That Contribute to the Adjustment of
International Students. Journal of International Students, 6(1), 262-282.
• Le, A. T., LaCost, B. Y., & Wismer, M. (2016). International Female Graduate
Students' Experience at a Midwestern University: Sense of Belonging and Identity
Development. Journal of International Students, 6(1), 128-152.
• Yu, K. C., Fan, S. C., & Lin, K. Y. (2015). ENHANCING STUDENTS’PROBLEM-SOLVING
SKILLS THROUGH CONTEXT-BASED LEARNING. International Journal of Science and
Mathematics Education, 13(6), 1377-1401.
• Chira, S. (2017). Learning Opportunities: International Students and Lessons About
Education, Immigration and Cultural Diversity On and Off the (Atlantic) Canadian
Campus. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 49(3), 133-152.
• Jackson, D., & Bridgstock, R. (2018). Evidencing student success in the
contemporary world-of-work: renewing our thinking. Higher Education Research &
Development, 37(5), 984-998.

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