When the Office Is Chilly, School Seems Hot
THE very day Zhao Jing received the admission notice from Chongqing Normal University, she set her sights on a master’s degree four years down the road. “It is the consensus of my family that a higher academic degree increases the odds of finding better jobs,” she says matter-of-factly. No sooner had she entered university than she was collecting information on the postgraduate entrance exam and schools offering the degree she wanted. “Believe it or not, I am not the most frenetic planner,” she protests. “Some of my classmates buried themselves in materials for post-grad exams as soon as they entered college.”
Lingering in School
A journalism sophomore, Zhao Jing is scheduled to shift to law for her master’s degree. “This will give me more leeway. I can either be a reporter covering justice issues, or a lawyer.” She is frank that the ultimate goal of getting a higher degree is getting a decent job. “More than 30 students in my class are considering studying for a master’s degree. Not all are serious, so I expect many will drop the idea once they come across appropriate jobs.” Zhao is not one of this crowd, as she believes “it is always the right choice to be better learned.”
With the expansion of university enrollment in 1999 producing more graduates annually, people with bachelor’s degree are no longer the elite. Many try to preserve their rank or leave competitors behind by pressing on with a higher degree. Taking another degree is also the expedient route for those dissatisfied with their original majors, or who aspire to accreditation from a more prestigious university.
It was under these circumstances that China began to expand its postgraduate enrollment in 2001. In recent years, employers favoring postgraduates over undergraduates have declined, triggering a three-year drop in the number of master’s degree candidates. This year the trend is reversed – applicants have jumped from 1.2 million in 2008 to hit 1.246 million this year. The prime cause is the financial crisis that is destabilizing national economies.
Heading Abroad
Li Jiao, a 2009 graduate of Beijing Sport University, received offers from two British universities last March. She’ll pursue a master’s degree, but prior to going to the University of Delaware last year as an exchange student, she was torn between doing postgraduate work at home or abroad. Her academic performance in the U.S. was impressive, prompting her to immediately take the IELTS exam and start working through the paperwork for studying abroad.
Over the past few decades the majority of overseas Chinese students have gone from being government-sponsored to self-supported. “In 2008, 179,800 Chinese headed abroad to study. Ninety percent of them or 161,600, did so at their own expense,” said Zhang Xiuqin, chief of the International Cooperation and Exchange Department at the Ministry of Education. The number of Chinese packing off to foreign universities this year is expected to top the 2008 peak, and self-financing doesn’t seem to have dampened enthusiasm for the practice.
The economic slump has prodded many countries to step up efforts to lure foreign students to their universities as a way to generate revenues. “Since June 2008 the U.K. began to grant two-year visas to foreign students. It was always one year before that,” Li Jiao said. Another fallout of the financial crisis is fluctuation in the exchange rate, which is nevertheless producing a steadily stronger yuan. Li Jiao estimates that her tuition, fees and boarding expenses will come to £25,000 a year. After the pound vs yuan exchange rate rose from 1:15 to 1:9, this sum now equates to RMB 225,000, 40 percent less than before the rate adjustment. It is the same story with countries like the U.S., Australia and Japan; the cost of a foreign education for a Chinese has fallen from 10 to 25 percent.
It’s just as well that more families can afford their children’s schooling abroad, since short-funded foreign universities are cutting back on scholarships for international students. This is a factor counteracting the incentives their weaker currency offers against the yuan brandished by prospective Chinese students. Miss Peng, a postgraduate who will soon go to Germany to study in a state-financed program, now feels somewhat remorseful over her decision to reject a job offer on graduation. “When I get back from Germany, I still have to face the ordeal of looking for a job.”
Realistic Tactics
As domestic employers grow more pragmatic and sophisticated, they no longer indiscriminately woo people with higher academic degrees and some academic experience abroad, and instead have begun to weigh all factors in an application.
Miss Li worked in a foreign trade company before embarking on a master’s degree three years ago in anticipation of better career prospects. After running the gauntlet in several hiring fairs in recent months, she was disappointed to find that her degree didn’t help much. “Some positions are earmarked for males only, and other companies want no more than college graduates, saying that postgraduates demand higher salaries and female ones are old enough to be marriageable,” she comments, referring to the fact a girl is usually 24 or 25 on gaining a master’s degree. Soon a child will be on the way, they surmise, costing the employer big medical bills and long maternity leaves.
The feverish grab for returned overseas students is also cooling down. Most of these youth aim high, are loathe to start at the bottom, and not all are sufficiently high caliber for the positions they want. It is no news nowadays that a person with an international education can end up jobless.
Huang Yiran, a 2009 master of Southeast University, received an offer from a state-owned bank after being enrolled in Nanjing University for doctoral studies. During an interview with the bank, Huang explicitly told the human resources manager he would suspend his study to take the job, a choice he believes anyone with any sense would make. “Employment prospects might be no better when I get out with a doctorate. I can’t pass up the opportunity. Anyway there are programs for people to continue their studies while working.”
The fad to arm oneself with academic laurels is still around, but young people would be wise to fully assess their individual circumstances before deciding either to stay in the classroom or leave for the office, experts caution. The campus is no peaceful sanctuary in a struggling economy.
