As an international student getting ready to enter the workforce, you might be wondering what skills will help you stand out amongst other graduates.
The Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) is a major annual event bringing together the best of the best across Australia’s international education sectors. Educators, policymakers, researchers and industry representatives come together to talk about the opportunities and challenges shaping international education.
We spoke to several experts who can tell us which industries are brimming with exciting new opportunities and how international students can prepare for their future careers.
Meet the experts
Dr Peter Turner is the Director of the Sydney Quantum Academy (SQA), a partnership between four world-leading universities supporting education, research and workforce development in quantum technology.
As a physicist and quantum information theorist, he has spent the last 20 years watching quantum information science grow, but has also been heavily involved in the training of others in the field.
“I'm an academic,” he says, “but more than 10 years ago, I was in the UK where they identified quantum tech as a growth industry early on, and started producing dedicated training programs at graduate level and PhD level training programs in the fields. We were one of the first to put one of those programs together.”
Toshi Kawaguchi is the Director of Priority Sector and Skills at Investment NSW. His work focuses on the skills and industries shaping New South Wales (NSW), including technology, engineering, health, energy and manufacturing.
“Choosing NSW can put you close to clusters where universities, researchers, entrepreneurs and major employers are working on real-world problems,” he says.
Finding opportunities in NSW's technology sector
For international students wanting to find their way in the tech industry, where you choose to study can be just as important as what.
Kawaguchi says that a real strength of NSW is the concentration of universities, researchers and business within its innovation precincts.
“For international students, that means the opportunity is not simply about what you study, but the ecosystem you are studying in,” he says.
Tech Central is one example, bringing together technology companies (such as Canva and Block), startups, four universities and around 150 research institutes.
The Macquarie Park Innovation District offers another pathway, connecting education with more than 300 major global businesses, while Westmead Innovation Quarter is a hub for health and medical research spanning across areas including brain science, biomedical technologies, diagnostics and therapeutics, and chronic disease.
“That's the opportunity I would encourage international students to think about,” he says.
However, success in the industry does of course take more than simply being in the right place.. Kawaguchi encourages students to actively seek practical experience and build professional relationships throughout their studies.
“Take advantage of work-integrated learning, internships, placements, industry projects and research collaborations wherever these are available,” he says.
He also advises that students “Build relationships, not just a CV,” by attending industry events, joining professional associations, connecting with alumni and speaking to employers.
Become a part of the future of technology
Much like the recent rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum technology is an ever-growing area of science with potential to impact a wide range of industries, and everyday life. But Dr Turner says that even AI looks small when compared to the scope of what we might be expecting from quantum science in the near future.
“Artificial intelligence is what we would call a classical information technology. There's nothing really new there, but quantum tech is a fundamentally different way of processing information,” he says. “What quantum information technology [is] going to do for the next 100 years, the potential is pretty hard to overestimate, I think.”
For students looking to find work in quantum science, there are plenty of opportunities to enter the field.
“At the SQA we give out scholarships. I think 70% are international,” says Dr Turner.
He encourages interested students both in the field of physics but also from other areas of study to put their hands up for any opportunities to get involved.
“Quantum tech is obviously physics, but [also] computer science, mathematics, engineering, any information technology, as it gets more and more applications [and] as the technology matures, you know we need biologists and chemists, and then even logistics people and whatnot. We need experts from other fields to come in and engage,” he says.
The importance of being multi-skilled
Technical knowledge may open the door for many of these opportunities, but the ability to work effectively with others can help graduates succeed once they're there.
Kawaguchi emphasises that communication is fundamental in being successful in the tech industry.
“Being able to explain a complex idea clearly to a colleague, customer or manager can be every bit as important as the underlying technical expertise,” he says.
Teamwork is equally important in industries where people from different professional, cultural and academic backgrounds are working together to solve problems.
Similarly, Dr Turner’s experience is that while advanced research and problem-solving skills are absolutely vital, there are other skills that maybe aren’t as obvious but just as important.
“Things that, speaking as a PhD physicist from 20 years ago, I certainly never got trained in and probably had never heard about, like project management. You need to be able to get in, be useful, and then if and when you leave, the people need to be able to carry on with the project,” he says.
For international students, this means looking beyond their formal qualifications to develop communication, project management, collaboration and digital capabilities.
