Fewer Chinese master’s students opt to continue studies abroad

Master’s graduates from some of China’s elite universities are still not going on to study abroad at the same rate as they were before the pandemic.

A Times Higher Education analysis of employment reports from eight of China’s top-10-ranked universities has found the proportion of those heading overseas for further study after graduating with a master’s was lower in 2022 than it was in 2019.

The findings indicate that a downward trend that began even before the pandemic of Chinese students opting to stay at home for further study has not reversed despite Covid-era restrictions lifting across the world. 

At Zhejiang and Shanghai Jiao Tong universities, for example, 2.19 and 3.26 per cent of the 2022 cohort studied abroad, usually for another master’s or further research degree. In 2019 these figures were 3.72 per cent and 4.07 per cent respectively.

At Tsinghua University, 118 students (4.4 per cent) obtained their master’s degrees and then went abroad after graduation. In contrast, 5.5 per cent of the university’s graduates studied overseas in 2019, and 6.3 per cent in 2017.

Meanwhile, the number of Tsinghua master’s graduates who opted to stay at home for further study increased from 2.6 per cent in 2017 to 6.3 per cent last year.

“The motivations of Chinese students to go abroad for master’s and doctoral studies vary widely,” said Shen Wenqin, associate professor of higher education at Peking University’s  Graduate School of Education.

“The main driver for them is that the level of scientific research in overseas institutions is relatively higher and the ranking is also higher. However, this may change, given the rapid improvement in scientific research and ranking at Chinese universities.”

A study co-authored by Dr Shen and published last year in the Journal of International Students, found that certainty is now a priority for Chinese students when considering study abroad. “For those who have given up studying abroad, the symbolic capital and labour market advantages brought by degrees (especially master’s degrees) from Western universities have become uncertain and offset by the risk of the epidemic,” the authors write.

“The impact of the epidemic and the impact of international relations are interlinked,” Dr Shen said. “The biggest change at present is that the number of people studying in the US has dropped significantly. On the one hand, the US has increased restrictions on Chinese students, and on the other hand, Chinese students also have various considerations to choose study abroad destinations outside the US.”

As for whether the pattern will change in years to come, Dr Shen said: “I think the uncertainties of labour market return for master’s degrees will last after the ending of [the] epidemic. But PhD degrees from top Western universities will remain attractive.”

karen.liu@timeshighereducation.com