Mainland students studying abroad should have clear career plans

Job seekers talk with potential employers at a career fair in Nantong. XU PEIQIN/ FOR CHINA DAILY

A BLUE BOOK on the employment of Chinese mainland students who have studied overseas, released by the Education Ministry on March 25, shows it has become increasingly difficult for mainland students to find a job overseas after graduating from a foreign college, and more and more of them are returning to the mainland to look for a job after obtaining a foreign diploma. Beijing News commented on Wednesday:

Last year, 523,700 students from the Chinese mainland went to study abroad, and 409,100 mainland graduates came back home. The gap between the two numbers is becoming smaller year by year.

That a large number of mainland students, who form closed circles, concentrate in some foreign middle schools and universities, makes it difficult for them to integrate into local life, as there is no need for them to step out of their social circle in their daily lives. But once they leave school, their small societies will collapse, exposing them to an unfamiliar environment overnight.

Students from the mainland are a main source of revenue for many foreign schools, but few have tried to help them integrate into local life or look after them. Mainland students are often victims of campus violence, traffic accidents, robbery and even murders. These facts further consolidate their stereotype image in foreign societies. Some of them are wealthy. Some of them are hard-working and have good academic records. But these do not help them integrate into the local society. In spite of their large numbers, their way of life and culture marginalize them.

But coming home is not always a solution. Except for some foreign enterprises in China, most domestic employers prefer graduates educated in mainland universities.

The returning of the students in large numbers, particularly to the big cities in East China, aggravates the already fierce job competition there, and widens the development gap between East and West China.

The mainland students studying abroad should have a clear career development plan, and actively try to integrate into the local society and culture. Those families taking advantage of their wealth so their children can bypass the fierce competition of the mainland's college entrance examination should finally realize that an overseas education experience only marginalizes the children at home as well as abroad.