Great Expectations: Exploring the employability of English-medium instruction (EMI) graduates in Japan

Studying for a degree through the medium of English is assumed by governments, universities and students to build skills that the labour market rewards. That assumption has rarely been tested in a concerted way. This talk presents DPhil research on the employability of English-medium instruction (EMI) graduates in Japan, using survey, interview, and large-scale graduate destinations data from 28 universities. The findings reveal that current EMI students expect the degree to open better job opportunities, whereas graduates take a more modest view of its vocational value once they are in work. Recruiters rely on signals other than the language of instruction, particularly university prestige and extra-curricular activities. While the raw data implies an EMI salary premium, this is explained almost entirely by the higher proportion of EMI graduates entering foreign-affiliated companies, which tend to pay graduate trainees more than domestic companies do. EMI may help graduates of mid-tier institutions, does little extra for those from elite universities, and cannot compensate for a lower-tier degree. Interview data suggest that female EMI graduates opt to join foreign-affiliated firms to avoid gendered constraints in the domestic corporate sector. Overall, the limited value of English-medium degrees at labour market entry is a structural feature of Japanese graduate recruitment, a process largely unconcerned with the language of instruction or graduate skills. In Japan, EMI does not supply the universal career dividend many assume.