The Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a Beijing think-tank, recently published its Report on Employment and Entrepreneurship of Chinese Returnees 2017 based on surveys of over 1,800 returned overseas students. The report shows that returnees strongly agree that overseas education helps them to develop skills in areas such as independent thinking and cross-cultural communication, but also feel that their lack of connection to domestic employment trends puts them at a disadvantage when finding work.

The surveyed students – two thirds of whom had studied a postgraduate programme overseas – appeared to be very positive on the skills they developed abroad. When asked about adaptability, cross-cultural communication skills, and independent thinking skills, over 80 per cent said that their overseas study had helped them to develop in the respective area, while similar proportions said that their international awareness, language skills and cross-cultural communication ability were an advantage to them when finding work.

Despite these advantages, students said that there were also disadvantages to overseas study. Two thirds said that their lack of connection to domestic employment trends put them at a disadvantage, while other commonly-mentioned issues included missing the recruitment season for domestic companies and a lack of connection to Chinese society. Overall, only around half of returned students felt that they were clearly more competitive than domestic candidates, while about one in 10 thought they were at a disadvantage overall.

The survey also asked returnees about their experience finding work. In general, returning graduates are able to find work quickly – around a third of students had found their first job within a month of returning to China and over 70 per cent were employed within three months, while less than 4 per cent were still searching after a year. However, most were unhappy with their salaries, with 69 per cent saying that their salary fell short of their expectations and only one per cent saying that they were earning more than they had expected. In addition, almost 30 per cent of students said that their job had no relation to the subject they had studied while overseas, while a quarter of returned students said that the costs of overseas study outweighed the benefits. Nevertheless, 60 per cent of students believed they would recover the cost of their overseas study within five years.

One other useful insight from the survey concerns the places that returned students lived before they went overseas. 22 per cent said that they were living in Beijing, which was substantially higher than the number who said they were born in that city – likely because many overseas students first completed an undergraduate degree at a university in the capital. This was followed by Shanghai and Guangzhou, with the remainder of the top 10 cities being Chengdu, Tianjin, Xi’an, Wuhan, Nanjing, Qingdao and Hangzhou in that order. In total almost two thirds of returned students were living in these top 10 cities before going overseas.

Analysis by Kevin Prest and Cathy He:

The report illustrates that, although most students see overseas study as an advantage and employment rates are high, many Chinese overseas students have difficulty finding jobs that match their skills when they return home after graduation. UK institutions can help to support their graduates by providing in-depth information about the China job market and by building links with Chinese employers and industries. At the same time, some degree of expectation management is also needed, as results indicate that many Chinese overseas students have unrealistic expectations of the kind of salaries they can expect after returning home.

Although the survey was not specifically aimed at UK graduates, the largest group of survey respondents had studied in the UK. This matches with other research which finds the UK accounts for a significantly larger share of returning Chinese graduates than of outbound students, likely due to the UK’s stricter policies on post-study work and immigration. This means that employability after returning to China is a particularly important factor for students that study in the UK.

Good practices for UK universities looking to support their Chinese graduates include virtual job fairs and consortium approaches. The British Council China also brings experienced HR staff from major Chinese firms to the UK and organises career development workshops and job fairs in major cities in China every year. If you are interested in working with us on this issue or would like to know more, please contact us at siem.china@britishcouncil.org.cn.

Sources

Report on Employment and Entrepreneurship of Chinese Returnees 2017: http://www.ccg.org.cn/Research/View.aspx?Id=7251 (in Chinese)