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Malaysian students: why many international graduates in Australia land lower-skilled jobs

News · 2026-10-07 · 3 min read

An Australian degree is often pictured as the first rung of a skilled career there. A federal government study paints a harder picture. It shows that over half of the international graduates now working in Australia hold jobs below their skill level, a sign of a gap between what students study, how migration works and what employers hire for. If you are a Malaysian choosing where and what to study, these findings are useful before you commit.

Who was followed

The International Students Pathways and Outcomes Study, published in September 2025, followed students who began studying in Australia in 2010-11 and tracked their results to the end of 2023. Its view of policy stops at the end of 2023, ahead of the federal government's Migration Strategy changes. That makes it a look back, not a description of current rules.

Who ended up staying

• Around 35 to 40 per cent of the international students who started in the early 2010s had permanent residency within 10 years.
• For higher education and vocational graduates who could be traced through linked tax and employment records, the share was greater: more than half were permanent residents within a decade.

Staying did not always mean a skilled role

Over half of international graduates holding qualifications at the top occupational skill level were in lower-skilled work. Among domestic graduates, only about 20 to 30 per cent were working below their qualification level. Those who stayed also had a harder time finding jobs in their field, and this was truer of higher education graduates than of vocational education and training (VET) graduates. Their average pay trailed that of domestic graduates holding the same qualifications.

The hurdles named

• English-language proficiency
• Limited practical Australian work experience
• Employer uncertainty about temporary visas
• Difficulty having overseas experience recognised
• Bias in recruitment
• Some employers seeing international graduates as less job-ready

The wider stakes

Australia increasingly looks to international students as a possible supply of skilled workers where there are shortages, and international education added more than $50 billion to the economy in 2023-24. The study's authors said graduates who remain could add a lot to the future workforce, yet weak transitions into skilled work hold that back.

The findings land in the middle of a fresh argument about student numbers. A minor-party senator wants a steep cut to the intake, while the federal Education Minister defended the system, saying most international students go home, and that keeping some graduates in occupations the country needs, such as doctors and nurses in hospitals for a period, is sensible. The government has set a national planning level of 295,000 commencements for 2026 and says it will hold it in 2027. Commencements this year are down 8 per cent on the same period in 2025 and 13 per cent below 2019.

Using this as a Malaysian student

You can work on several of these hurdles before you fly. Keep sharpening professional English even if you use it every day, and book IELTS or PTE if your course or visa needs a result. Look for courses with practical placements, because local experience was one of the gaps. Keep certified copies and English translations of documents in Bahasa Malaysia. If you hold a trade certificate such as the Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM), find out how overseas experience and qualifications get recognised, since that was another stumbling block.

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