A survey report on returned Chinese overseas students has been published by Centre for China and Globalization (CCG) and high-end recruitment platform of Zhilian Zhaopin. The research is based on a sample of 913 valid questionnaires, with the US, UK and Australia being the top three destinations. Around 78 per cent of respondents returned to China in the last five years. 50 per cent of respondents said that overseas education had been worthwhile, while 20 per cent said that it was not worthwhile.

The report notes that Beijing (27 per cent), Shanghai (13 per cent) and Guangzhou (6 per cent) were the main areas for returnee employment, followed by other large municipalities and provincial capitals. However, compared to the 42 per cent of returnees that chose to stay in Beijing in the corresponding survey in 2012, returnees are now much less concentrated in the top few cities, while central and western cities are attracting an increasing proportion of overseas-educated Chinese. The leading central and western cities are Chengdu, Xi'an and Wuhan, which accounted for 4.3, 2.6 and 2.1 per cent of returnees respectively.

The proportion of returnees choosing to work for local private companies has also increased substantially, reaching 36 per cent in the survey sample, while only 27 per cent of respondents worked in foreign-invested companies and 14 per cent worked in state-owned enterprises. The leading sectors for employment were finance (14 per cent), sales, retail and trade (7 per cent), real estate and construction (7 per cent) and the internet sector (6 per cent). The top fields among returnees who started their own business were biotechnology/medicine, IT and trade/retail.

A second survey, by the China Youth Daily, showed that 54 per cent of Chinese students overseas were considering starting their own business after graduation. In comparison, only six per cent of respondents in the CCG/Zhilian Zhaopin survey had actually started their own business, showing that the large majority of students eventually decide against this route.

Analysis:

Unlike the students of previous decades, immigration is no longer the first option for most Chinese students studying in foreign countries. According to the most recent statistics, around 364,800 students returned to China in 2014 after studying overseas, equivalent to 79 per cent of the number of students who went abroad that year. Students are mainly attracted by China's growing economic strength. China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced that returned overseas students enjoy the same level of support for employment and entrepreneurship as students from national-level universities, while top tier cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai have introduced policies to attract more overseas talents. In contrast, limited employment opportunities for overseas students in foreign countries after graduation, as well as language constraints, make it more difficult to find a satisfactory job overseas.

Sources:
1. http://news.sina.com.cn/zhiku/zkcg/2015-08-18/doc-ifxfxraw8907208.shtml
2. http://www.chinanews.com/hr/2015/08-14/7467213.shtml
3. http://edu.cnr.cn/kszt/lxlt/jj/20150813/t20150813_519533491.shtml?_sm_au...
4. http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-08/26/c_128166124.htm
5. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/1860530/local-attraction-...