China Experiencing a “Brain-Gain” Rather Than a “Brain Drain”

Chinese Youth Studying Abroad — By Joey on January 6, 2010 at 6:52 pm

For this week’s enoVate theme topic, we have selected Chinese youth studying abroad as it gives a detailed glance into international and educational influences, both large factors in the lives of Chinese youth.

We lead off this week with a post from eno Marketing Supervisor, Faye Yu, a graduate from Shanghai’s Fudan University and a MBA recipient from UCLA in California. She outlines her decision factors to study abroad as well as the future impact this has on China’s economic growth.

For the large group of people who have already finished undergraduate education in a Chinese domestic university, and are interested in pursuing Post-Graduate degrees internationally, they fall into two distinct groups: those seeking a PhD and those seeking a business degree.

Studying Abroad towards a PhD

Chinese PhD students tend to study abroad because:

1) the education/research capability is typically better overseas
2) the education is mostly free
3) there’s a good chance after graduating PhD students are allowed to remain in their country. For example, PhD graduates in the US can apply for green card in a fast track program. If a student is interested in conducting research, then it’s normal to become a post-doc or faculty member. Other not so research-minded people look for opportunities in their selected industry or consulting. PhD students usually prepare their own application, but are most likely to take classes for GRE and TOEFL test preperation.

For this group, because their education takes longer to finish, most of them would have been living overseas for over 5 years and perhaps settled down with a family by the time they finished their education. Therefore the barriers for them to move back to China are higher considering the need to move an entire family. Recently there has been a large push from the Chinese government to attract Post-grad talents back to China to teach or to conduct research in domestic universities. There are many online heated debates and conflicting conversations for whether to return (“海归”) or not on overseas Chinese BBS’, such as MITBBS, and HUAREN.

Studying Abroad towards a Post-Grad Business Degree

Chinese Post-grad Business students choose to study abroad because:

1) The education at international business schools typically rank higher than in China.
2) There are plentiful opportunities to work overseas after graduation.
3) International business schools over a vast network and international experience.

Studying business internationally is much more expensive than studying for a PhD, and the chance of receiving a scholarship is much slimmer. However, most people view it as a form of investment to aid in their career development or to move up the corporate ladder. Because the application process is very intensive and most of these people are working full-time while applying, some Chinese business school applicants seek help from consultants, such as BeBeyond. Most of this group will also take classes to prepare for their GMAT and TOEFL tests.

We see more and more returnees to China in the business degree group especially during 2009 becaus:

1) Employment opportunities internationally decreased dramatically for MBAs in 2009. (Meaning Chinese MBA’s are more accessible for Chinese companies to hire)
2) Some industries, such as Consulting and Banking, are offering global level pay in China.
3) Most people in this group only live overseas for 2 years, thus not becoming as tied down.

Generally, I think China’s improved global status is very attractive for studying abroad Chinese to return and work in China. Most people would agree that there are more opportunities in China today, compared to the US or UK. Yet, the main barriers that keep Chinese study abroad students from returning is mostly the lower wages and (sometimes) lower living standards. Most of these returnees want to be treated better than local talents, or equally as expats. According to a friend who is involved in job recruitment in China, the trend is that the demand and pay level for returning study abroad Chinese is increasing, while the pay of expats is decreasing. It appears China may be experiencing a “brain gain” rather than a “brain drain”.

Tags: , ,

Comments are closed.