Meanwhile, 93% of Chinese and 92% of Korean employers said they were satisfied with the Australian-educated graduates working for them. 300 graduates and 75 employers from Korea and 495 and 72 from China were canvassed in total.

In China, where the graduate unemployment rate is 22%, only 14% were out of work

Korea is Australia’s third largest source of overseas students, sending 30,000 students in 2011, while China is the first with 160,000 – almost 30% of all international enrolments that year.

In both surveys, a majority of graduates said their overseas education had helped them find work and that they were satisfied with their role.

In China, where the graduate unemployment rate stands at 22%, only 14% were out of work.

Employers from both countries, hailing from industries such as engineering and commerce, said the main reason they would choose an Australian-educated graduate over a locally-educated one was their English language competency, which helped them communicate with overseas clients.

“International perspective” was also important to Chinese employers while Koreans flagged “enriched life experience”.

But there were concerns among employers too. 52% in Korea and 67% in China said that Australian educators should place more emphasis on work experience by providing internships at local businesses (an issue overseas students in Australia have vocally complained about).

Meanwhile, the most common reason Chinese employers preferred local graduates was that international ones “sometimes had unrealistic salary expectations”.

More minor quibbles were that international graduates moved on too quickly or struggled to adapt to their work environment.

The results will nonetheless be welcomed by Australian educators who are seeking to boost overseas interest after three years of falling enrolments. The surveys found that more than half of employers in Korea and 87% in China expected to face skills shortages in the near future and that demand for international graduates at their organisations was likely to grow.