The platform, Return & Connect, is designed to support international students returning to their home countries after completing overseas studies, by connecting them with employer and alumni networks, for work experience and post-study work placements both during and after their studies.
The service has been created in collaboration with universities in the UK, US and Australia and brings academic institutions, students, alumni and employers together under one system.
The offering will begin rolling out in summer 2024 across Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Mainland China and will expand to other key international student markets in a phased approach.
“The Return & Connect service represents a pivotal step in INTO’s commitment to supporting the professional development of international students. It revolutionises the landscape of employment and post-study work placements,” said John Sykes, CEO of INTO University Partnerships.
“With concerns over long-term employability driving international student decision making, this initiative empowers universities to extend the reach and impact of both their careers and alumni services well beyond their home campus and into parts of the world, traditionally under-served by the majority of overseas universities hosting large populations of international students,” he continued.
The UK’s international education champion, Steve Smith, has backed the platform’s launch.
“Return & Connect is a great idea that tackles a challenge that all universities face in providing accurate and timely employer connections to students that graduate and seek to return home, but it also simultaneously provides available in-market resource to strengthen all important institutional alumni activity,” said Smith.
As part of the initiative, INTO is collaborating with mShare Tech, a Chinese firm that provides internship and career services, as well as tech solutions, for students and graduates in the domestic market.
This partnership see this process specifically streamlined for returning Chinese students as they enter the workforce post-study abroad.
mShare will utilise its local network of employers to integrate its student registrations into the platform, in a bid to establish Return & Connect as the “exclusive brand for international students in China”.
Within the partnership, mShare will develop new, specialised subscription propositions for employers on its platform, enabling them to access, engage, and service students in China who are studying abroad or have completed their studies overseas.
Rocky Zeng, mShare Tech CEO, said the partnership demonstrates “a shared vision of fostering global talent and advancing career pathways for international students”.
“INTO’s unrivalled global reach and mShare’s extensive network in China will give returning Chinese students a distinctive advantage to thrive in the competitive job market,” said Zeng.
