The Number of Overseas Students Returning to China Has Doubled

By Olivia

On March 19th， the research institute of BOSS Zhipin（literally meaning “directly hired by the Boss”） issued an Employment Report on Overseas Chinese Students in China， which showed that， since the second half of 2020， the number of overseas Chinese students who are actively looking for job opportunities in China has increased by 103% year-on-year.

At the same time， the research team found that the choice of jobs in China for overseas returnees has become increasingly diversified， and more returnees are entering the real economy in industries other than finance， Internet technology and education. In particular， the ratio of overseas returnee employees has increased significantly in the fields of manufacturing， supply chain/logistics， medical services and other industries.

As Chang Meng， Director of the BOSS Zhipin research institute， pointed out， since the COVID-19 pandemic has effectively started to be brought under control， more and more Chinese students studying abroad are returning to China to look for jobs. Meanwhile， the steady and strong economic recovery in China is continuously creating new job opportunities， which further strengthens the willingness of overseas students to return to China.

The proportion of overseas students returning to China has risen noticeably， and those with higher education backgrounds are more popular

The June 2020 World Economic Outlook showed that the World Bank had stated that the global economy had fallen into the worst recession since the end of the Second World War. The International Monetary Fund estimated that the global economy would shrink by 4.4% in 2020.

Despite this， thanks to effective prevention and control measures， China became the first major economy that managed to resume work and production nationwide， and to continue developing their economy. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics， China realized a total economic volume of more than RMB 100 billion in 2020， and RMB 101.6 trillion of GDP， which was an increase of 2.3% over the previous year， making it the only major economy in the world to achieve positive economic growth.

The Chinese economy has proven its strong resilience， which adds attractiveness to international talent. The report showed that more and more Chinese students studying abroad are now choosing to return. In the second half of 2020， the number of overseas students who preferred jobs in China increased by 103% year-on-year.

When looking for jobs， overseas Chinese students take more initiative than fresh graduates in China in 2021. Chang Meng said： “They show more initiative as they have clearer intentions regarding jobs， and are happy to communicate with recruiters more actively and intensively.”

Meanwhile， the report also noted that as more overseas students are coming back to China and as the domestic education level has greatly improved， compared with fresh graduates from domestic double first-class universities （i.e. universities that will participate in Chinas plan to construct world-class universities and first-class disciplines）， overseas undergraduate students have no obvious competitiveness， while overseas returnees with a masters degree or above do.

The expected salary averages RMB 14，035， and finance， Internet technology and education are still the top choice of industries

Chang Meng explained that due to their language skills， experiences of studying abroad， and acuity in learning， overseas students often have higher expected salaries， and some multinational companies are also willing to meet their demands.

According to the report， overseas returnees had an average expected starting salary of RMB 14，035， an increase of 4.3% year-on-year， which is much higher than that of fresh domestic graduates （RMB 6，139）. The increase in expected salaries is mainly due to the higher proportion of highly educated talent.

Compared with the same period in 2019， of these overseas students returning to China for jobs， the proportion of those with masters degrees and doctorates from overseas universities increased dramatically， by 1.6 times for masters degrees， and by 1.2 times for doctorates.

It was also observed that， of overseas returnees from different educational backgrounds， those with a masters degree had an expected average salary which was 5.1% higher than a year ago， while others lowered their salary expectations （by 2.9% for undergraduate students and by 13.1% for doctoral students）.

From the perspective of industries favored by overseas students returning to China， finance， Internet technology， and education still took the top three spots， and has not changed in recent years.

Despite this， overseas returnees have increasingly diversified their job choices in China， and more are entering sectors in the real economy. In the second half of 2020， the proportion of returnee employees in the manufacturing industry increased by 135%， with the supply chain/logistics industry seeing an increase of 132%， and the medical industry witnessing an increase of 112%.