Barriers to fieldwork placements for international higher degree students: A systematic literature review

An emerging challenge in providing education to international higher degree students is delivering courses that have fieldwork placement components. This review synthesised findings for higher education courses where fieldwork placements were employed. The study investigated the issues that supervisors experienced, or anticipated they would experience, in providing placements to international students, and identified the key factors that might moderate their willingness to provide placements. The results from the 18 studies reviewed showed that the key themes were related to perceived burden in supervising international students during placement, and perceived discordance of language and cultural norms between international students and the workplace in the host country. This evaluation will assist educators to plan support programs for placement preparation and completion as it identified the key barriers perceived to be related to placement success.