Post-Study Visa Pressure
International graduates found it increasingly difficult to secure UK work - many Chinese graduates returned home needing practical experience connected to Chinese labour markets.
How King's College London co-designed a practical employability model for Chinese national students - connecting them to industry in both the UK and China
King's Careers & Employability identified two distinct needs - graduates returning to China needed China-relevant work experience, and offer holders needed UK workplace exposure before arrival. Their response was a structured, dual-pathway programme purpose-built around where students were actually going.
Students can access market-specific employability support, including:
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Workplace transition modules to prepare for the job market and workplace culture
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Digital consulting projects with UK or Chinese employers
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Industry Panel, Badge, Certificate and China Careers Fair'
Key Stats
What this case study highlights
164
students completed projects across both tracks
91%
completion rate
96%
outputs rated high or outstanding by industry partners
89%
would recommend to peers
91%
plan to reference it in job or postgraduate applications
The Challenge
Recruitment Under Strain
International student recruitment became uncertain - offer holders sought stronger assurances of employability and return on investment.
Two Separate But Related Needs
Outbound graduating students needed China-relevant work experience; inbound offer holders needed UK workplace exposure before arriving.
A Practical and Scalable Response
King's required a model that built graduates' confidence and networks in China while simultaneously offering incoming students UK work experience to improve conversion.
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What You'll Learn
What's Inside the Case Study
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How King's identified and structured two distinct student pathways - graduating students and offer holders - within a single scalable programme model
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How Practera and King's co-designed an authentic industry consulting project with 12 points of direct industry engagement per team, across real business challenges including international market entry, digital marketing, and funding strategy
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How the programme integrated with King's China Careers Fairs in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong - creating a natural bridge from learning to opportunity
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How skills growth and career readiness were measured from baseline to programme completion, providing King's with evidence-based impact data
- How Practera sourced and supported industry partners and professional mentors from organisations including HSBC, TikTok, and Unilever
Get the Case Study
Download the full case study to see how this model was structured and how it can be applied to your institutional contexts.
Industry partners included organisations across UK and China markets focusing on real business challenges including strategy, marketing, and product analysis.
Proof & Credibility
What Made This Model Work
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Alignment with student journeys - Two tracks tailored to the distinct needs of offer holders and graduating students, ensuring relevance at every stage
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Integration with careers activities - The link with King's China Careers Fairs created a natural bridge from learning to employment opportunities in target markets
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Proactive platform support - Practera's structured experiential learning platform provided learning materials, templates, reflection tools, and project workflows - with flagging tools to identify which teams needed additional coaching
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Evidence-based impact - Baseline and end-of-programme data allowed King's to evaluate skill gains and confidence growth across six key competencies, including Problem Solving, Cultural Consciousness, and Leadership
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Clear expectation setting - Pre-project Skills Modules created a pipeline of committed, prepared students ahead of the employer-facing consulting project