Contemporary higher education transformation in China has been shaped by long-term reforms including massification, internationalisation, and performance-oriented governance, which have reconfigured institutional priorities and graduate transitions (Shen et al., 2022; Xiong et al., 2022). This study seeks to understand how the institutional model and geographic context of an international education shape the employability of Chinese master’s graduates. The central research question is: How do the employability outcomes and capital formations of Chinese master’s graduates differ between traditional overseas universities, their transnational joint-venture campuses in China? This investigation is operationalized through a focused comparative case study of four institutions representing distinct archetypes: University of Nottingham, UK (UNUK); University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC);  New York University, USA (NYU); New York University Shanghai (NYU Shanghai). The University of Nottingham, as a UK institution, is deeply embedded in this European Higher Education Area tradition. Its joint venture, UNNC, represents a direct export and adaptation of this European model into the Chinese context, embodying the EU’s and UK’s strategic goal of deeper educational engagement with Asia. This study will critically assess how this European-derived model of transnational education (TNE) translates graduate capital into employment outcomes. 

The question is deliberately designed to move beyond a simplistic "domestic versus abroad" analysis. Instead, it dissects the nuance of educational mobility by asking whether a degree earned at a transnational campus within China confers a fundamentally different employability profile than one from its overseas parent. Furthermore, it interrogates how different international pedagogical and administrative models—specifically a European joint-venture approach versus an American integrated global network—influence the perceived value and tangible outcomes of graduates within the competitive Chinese and global labour markets. Ultimately, the research aims to reveal how these educational pathways equip graduates with specific forms of capital and positional advantage, contributing to broader debates on the efficacy and equity of international higher education.

The analysis is grounded in an integrated theoretical framework that combines employability capital theory with positional conflict theory, interpreted through the lens of international higher education policy. To fully deconstruct employability, the study employs employability capital theory (Tomlinson, 2017; Fugate et al., 2004; Jackson and Tomlinson, 2020). This framework reconceptualizes employability not as a binary outcome but as a dynamic portfolio of acquired and activated capital. It will be used to map and compare how each institutional context cultivates distinct forms of capital in its graduates: human capital (specialized knowledge and skills), social capital (professional and alumni networks), cultural capital (intercultural fluency, institutional prestige, and understanding of global workplace norms), and psychological capital (resilience and career self-efficacy). This allows for a nuanced assessment of whether immersion in a UK or US environment fosters a different capital mix than a localized “Western” education in China.

To contextualize this capital within a stratified global labour market, the framework incorporates positional conflict theory (Brown, 2003). This perspective views education as a positional good, where the value of a credential is relative to its scarcity and prestige in a hierarchy. The research will examine how Chinese graduates from the overseas ‘mother’ institutions (UNUK, NYU) may leverage their foreign credential for its traditional positional advantage and symbolic power. In contrast, it will explore how graduates from the transnational campuses (UNNC, NYU Shanghai) articulate and deploy their ‘glocalized’ credential—a hybrid of international pedagogy and local immersion—and whether this creates a new, distinct positional value or is perceived as a secondary tier within the global hierarchy of degrees. This tension between capital formation and positional value is central to understanding the real-world efficacy of different internationalization models.

This study adopted a qualitative research paradigm, privileging depth, nuance, and the subjective interpretations of participants to understand the complex social phenomena of employability and capital formation. The primary research instrument was the semi-structured interview, chosen for its capacity to yield rich, detailed narrative data while maintaining a consistent thematic focus across cases. Data were gathered through approximately 55-65 in-depth interviews, with 20 participants purposively sampled from the alumni cohort of each of the four institutions (UNUK, UNNC, NYU, NYU Shanghai). Participants were Chinese nationals who had completed a taught master’s programme within the last three to five years, ensuring recent and relevant labour market experiences. A semi-structured interview protocol guided the conversations, with open-ended questions designed to elicit narratives around career trajectories, perceived skills acquisition, network development, and the perceived value of their specific degree in the job market. This approach allowed for the emergent identification of themes central to employability capital theory—human, social, cultural, and psychological—while remaining sensitive to unanticipated insights. Thematic Analysis (TA), as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006; 2021), was the principal method of data analysis. This involved a systematic process of familiarization with transcripts, generating initial codes, searching for and reviewing themes, and defining and naming these themes. This iterative process enabled a rigorous, data-driven exploration of both commonalities and critical differences in the experiences and perceptions of graduates from the four institutional models. The comparative design was intrinsic to the analysis, as themes were constantly contrasted across the overseas and transnational, and the European and US-derived, contexts to draw out the specific influence of institutional type and internationalization model on graduate outcomes.

The research yielded a nuanced comparative analysis of employability capital across distinct international higher education models. The primary finding was a clear differentiation in the composition and deployment of employability capital among graduates from the four institutional types. Graduates from the traditional overseas institutions (UNUK, NYU) demonstrated a pronounced accumulation of cultural and global social capital, which they leveraged for its strong positional value within elite transnational labour markets. In contrast, graduates from the transnational campuses (UNNC, NYU Shanghai) exhibited a more hybridised capital portfolio, characterised by a sophisticated localised social capital within China and a unique form of intercultural operational competence that bridged foreign pedagogical frameworks with domestic professional contexts. A key conclusion was that transnational education did not simply replicate the ‘mother’ institution’s outcomes but generated a distinct graduate profile with its own strategic advantages and potential positional ambiguities. The comparative analysis revealed a core divergence: the European joint-venture model (UNNC) cultivated graduates with a dual identity as localized adaptors. They excelled at pragmatic cultural translation, leveraging strong regional networks to bridge European norms with China’s domestic market. Conversely, the US integrated model (NYU Shanghai) fostered graduates with a unified global identity as seamless navigators. They prioritized fluid movement between cultural codes and leveraged a cohesive, worldwide institutional network for careers in truly global spheres. Each model thus produces a distinct type of globally competent graduate, shaped by its foundational philosophy of internationalization.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern‐based qualitative analytic approaches. Counselling and psychotherapy research, 21(1), 37-47. Brown, P. (2003). The opportunity trap: Education and employment in a global economy. European Educational Research Journal, 2(1), 141-179. Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B. E. (2004). Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational behavior, 65(1), 14-38. Jackson, D., & Tomlinson, M. (2020). Investigating the relationship between career planning, proactivity and employability perceptions among higher education students in uncertain labour market conditions. Higher education, 80(3), 435-455. Shen, W., Xu, X., & Wang, X. (2022). Reconceptualising international academic mobility in the global knowledge system: towards a new research agenda. Higher Education, 84(6). Tomlinson, M. (2017). Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability. Education+ Training, 59(4), 338-352. Xiong, W., Yang, J., & Shen, W. (2022). Higher education reform in China: A comprehensive review of policymaking, implementation, and outcomes since 1978. China Economic Review, 72, 101752.