Is the rate of studying abroad at prestigious universities too high? Is studying abroad equivalent to talent loss? Data tells you the truth, teaching support | explanation | data

Recently, some self media outlets have raised the issue that the rate of graduates from northern China studying abroad is as high as 80%, causing a stir online. The discussion about whether the proportion of graduates from prestigious universities studying abroad is too high has sparked heated discussions.

Is it true that there are endless rumors about top domestic universities "cultivating talents for foreign countries" and "wasting educational resources"?

The average study abroad rate of C9 universities is only 13.1%

The first thing that can dispel rumors is that the study abroad rate of graduates from several top universities, including Tsinghua University, is not high.

At present, Tsinghua University has officially refuted the claim that "the rate of going abroad is as high as 80%". As of 2022, only 14% of Tsinghua graduates choose to study abroad/abroad, including going to Hong Kong, China for further education. 80% of the data only comes from the probability of undergraduate students continuing their studies after graduation, but 65.6% of Tsinghua undergraduate students choose to pursue graduate studies in China.

In fact, the study abroad rate of China's top universities is not high.

Chinese C9 Alliance universities (including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University, and Xi'an Jiao Tong University)

For example, the study abroad rates of these top universities (including the University of Science and Technology of China, Harbin Institute of Technology) have been on a downward trend in recent years. The average study abroad rate of C9 universities has decreased from 23.7% in 2018 to 13.1% in 2022.

Supporting teaching and enlisting, students from prestigious schools also have their feet on the earth

How are the "proud sons of heaven" heading?

Most people still stay in China for employment or further education. From the trend, taking Tsinghua University as an example, the employment prospects displayed by the university in recent years have almost always been a key area of national construction.

33.4% of undergraduate graduates from Tsinghua University in 2022 went to the information transmission, software, and information technology service industries; 15.4% went to the scientific research and technology service industry; 10% went to public management, social security, and social organizations. Compared to the data from previous years, the information transmission, software, and information technology services industry has always been at the forefront, and industries such as education and finance are also highly favored.

At the same time, many students from well-known universities are still giving back to society through volunteer teaching, border support, and other means.

The Chinese Youth Volunteer Graduate Teaching Support Team, which was established in 1998 and officially dispatched in 1999, is a teaching support activity jointly organized and publicly recruited by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the Ministry of Education.

In recent years, the number of students sent by C9 universities to the central and western regions for poverty alleviation through graduate teaching groups has been continuously increasing, reaching a total of 208 in 2022, an increase of 110% over the past five years. Volunteers from different universities continuously send knowledge and hope to hundreds of impoverished counties in the remote central and western regions of our country through volunteer teaching groups.

Many colleges and universities have gradually established a training system based on the integration of teaching support and research and learning. Taking Tsinghua University as an example, since responding to the call of the central government in 1998, by 2022, 418 volunteers have traveled all over Xizang, Qinghai, Ningxia, Gansu, Yunnan and other places. From the Qinghai Tibet Plateau to the Yunnan Guizhou mountainous areas, from steep and rugged peaks to sandy hills, the total service time exceeds 900000 hours, covering over 27000 students.

The number of volunteer teachers provided by the graduate teaching group of Fudan University in Shanghai has always been among the top in universities, and has won awards such as "China Outstanding Volunteer Service Collective", "National Top 100 Youth Volunteer Service Collective", and "National Outstanding Organization Award for Graduate Teaching Group" multiple times.

Carrying a pen to join the military has increasingly become a choice for students from prestigious universities.

In 2022, according to the currently released data, C9 universities have cumulatively sent nearly a hundred students to the military.

Many college students have also made military achievements in the army, proving through practical actions that excellent "scholars" and brave "centurions" do not conflict.

From 2005 to the spring of 2022, a total of 268 students from Tsinghua University were conscripted into the military, of which 37 made contributions in the military. Since 2002, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Fudan University have sent a total of 596 and 455 students to enlist. Among them, a total of 25 students from Jiaotong University have been awarded personal third class merit, while students from Fudan University who joined the military have received personal second class merit twice, and 32 students have received personal third class merit 34 times. Honors such as commendation and outstanding soldiers are countless.

Universities are also constantly optimizing the environment for enlisted students before and after their military careers, and various preferential programs in academic and daily life enable more students to actively engage in the national defense industry.

More and more international students are choosing to return to China for employment

Finally, let's talk about studying abroad.

In 1978, Comrade Deng Xiaoping gave instructions to expand the dispatch of international students while listening to the report of the Ministry of Education on the work of Tsinghua University. In 1984, China officially opened up self funded study abroad and no longer imposed restrictions on the educational qualifications, age, and years of work for students studying abroad. The number of students studying abroad began to increase year by year. In 2001, China joined the WTO, and the number of self funded students studying abroad reached 76000, a year-on-year increase of 135.31%, accounting for over 90% of the total number of students studying abroad. In the past 20 years, the number of people studying abroad has increased from less than 40000 to 703500 in 2019. Although there has been a slight decline during the pandemic, it has gradually recovered to 662100 in 2022.

The attitude of the Chinese government towards the destination of international students has long been confident, supportive, and inclusive. The basic policy for studying abroad is to support studying abroad, encourage returning to China, have freedom of movement, and play a role. From the results, it can be seen that there has always been a positive cycle of interaction between "the country", "society", and "international students".

Especially with the continuous enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength, more and more overseas students are paying attention to the abundant opportunities in China. In recent years, the number of people returning to China to study abroad has been continuously increasing, surpassing one million for the first time in 2021. The number of Chinese international students returning home has exceeded 6 million since the reform and opening up.

It can be said that overseas returnees have become an important force in participating in China's technological, economic, and social development.

National and local governments have continuously launched special policies to attract overseas students to return to China for work, encourage them to return to China for innovation and entrepreneurship, and encourage and support the role of overseas students.

In just two years between 2020 and 2021, Shanghai has introduced three policies that provide favorable conditions for international students to reside and start businesses in Shanghai. Among them, the Implementation Measures on Further Supporting Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship in Shanghai issued in 2020 stipulate that eligible overseas Chinese can receive no less than 50000 yuan of entrepreneurial support; Liuchuang Loan can guarantee up to 3 million yuan.

Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Zhuhai, Xiamen, Suzhou and other places have also introduced various special policies from 2016 to 2021, providing support subsidies of up to 5 million yuan to overseas students.

A significant change in recent years has been the significant growth rate of fresh international students returning to China to seek employment, from -0.9% in 2018 to 18.8% in 2019, and then to 67.3% in 2020.

According to data released by the Ministry of Education, since 2012, over 80% of all types of overseas students in China have chosen to return to their home country for development after completing their studies. Over the past 40 years, the number of overseas returnees accounted for 86.28% of the total number of completed international students. According to a data analysis report on the 2020 Survey of Returned Overseas Chinese Students, less than 2% of them expressed regret for returning to their home country.

China adheres to the implementation of larger scope, wider fields, and deeper levels of opening up to the outside world, upholds a more open attitude towards development and interaction with the world, jointly builds a higher-level open world economic system, and explores a win-win path, which also includes the openness and interaction of talent cultivation.