Xiao Han (pseudonym) graduated from the Communication University of China and found a job with one of China's largest real estate websites this July. During her job hunt she met some competitors who had graduated from overseas universities but she said she did not feel that they possessed any advantage over her. "Apart from graduates of some elite schools like Harvard University, those who came from average overseas schools cannot compete with us who came from high-ranking domestic universities."
A foreign degree is no longer a guarantee of a good job in China, she said. "As employees pay more attention to candidates' capabilities than their overseas diplomas, they have no great advantage unless they interned in overseas companies or graduated from elite universities."
A recent survey conducted by the U.S.-based Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), an organization that is dedicated to the advancement of graduate education and research, said that international graduate applications for 2015's fall semester increased by 2 percent compared to the previous year, with a total of 676,484 applications being received by the U.S. institutions that responded to the survey. However, applications from China dropped by 2 percent in 2015, making it the third consecutive year to see a decline in applications to U.S. colleges.
"We are aware that China has been investing heavily in its higher education institutions to develop more capacity for graduate education and research. American universities continue to draw a remarkable number of graduate students from China, but the competition for China's top talent is heating up," said Jeff Allum, director of research and policy analysis at the CGS.
Compared to the seven straight years of double-digit growth in Chinese applications that came before the recent years of decline, the current trend has raised experts' concerns over the fading of Chinese students' passion for U.S. graduate schools.
Fewer blind applications
According to the CGS, although China remains the largest source of prospective foreign students for U.S. programs, accounting for 39 percent of all international graduate applications, applications from China dropped by 3 percent in 2013 and 1 percent in 2014.
"There have been fewer applications to U.S. graduate schools in recent years as fewer students applied for our GRE or GMAT (English language proficiency tests) training courses and fewer came to us for help," an employee at the New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc, an overseas studies consulting company, told the Global Times Monday.
A human resources worker at a Beijing-based technology company surnamed Wang told the Global Times that she does not privilege candidates with overseas degrees. "Instead, I think that compared to candidates that studied at domestic colleges, overseas graduates are more unstable and less willing to start at a low-level position in an ordinary enterprise."
Zhang Weiyong, an expert with the National Development and Reform Commission Training Center, an overseas studies consulting company, told the Global Times that it is harder for Chinese students to apply to U.S. schools.
Zhang said that Chinese students who studied in the U.S. for their undergraduate degrees find it easier to apply for graduate programs in the country. As there have been several cases in which Chinese students were expelled from U.S. schools for poor academic performance or plagiarism - 8,000 last year according to the U.S.-based overseas education consultancy firm WholeRen Education - U.S. admission officers have begun to securitize Chinese applications more closely. Therefore, mediocre Chinese students who may have previously sought entry to middling American colleges to distinguish themselves will likely not bother, due to the risk of rejection and the high expense of applying.
"The trend of overseas studies has begun to enter a rational stage after 10 years of rapid expansion. Some parents and students no longer regard on overseas degree as something that will definitely bring a return on their investment," Zhang said.
Undergraduates on the rise
However, Zhang pointed out that though there has been a decline in applications to U.S. colleges, the total number of Chinese students enrolling in the US has been increasing, though the growth rate is slowing.
According to the 2014 Open Door report released by the U.S. Institute of International Education, last year the total number of Chinese students enrolling in U.S. colleges increased by 17 percent to more than 274,000 students, increasing by 18 percent at the undergraduate level. The growth rate at the graduate level was 12 percent, 5 percent lower than in 2013.
A total of 329,854 Chinese students undertook graduate study in the U.S. in 2013, while 370,724 students studied for bachelor's degree, said the report, meaning that more and more students are choosing to study abroad at a younger age.
"Traditionally, people would choose to study abroad after finishing their undergraduate studies. Now with people's rising affluence, some students choose to apply for overseas undergraduate programs," said Yang Dongping, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, adding that the recruitment policies of U.S. schools also affect Chinese students' applications.
"Though China remains the country that sends the largest number of students to the U.S. every year, some American educators are worried about 'what's next' due to the one-child policy as they're worried that applications from China will level off and eventually decline. So measures might be taken to actively seek future sources of international students for American universities," Li Wei, a professor at Arizona State University, told the Global Times.
Allum from the CGS said they do not anticipate that the decline in graduate applications will have a short-term negative impact on enrollment in U.S. graduate programs. "All indications are that international student enrollment, including students from China, will continue to be strong."
But the growth rate of Chinese enrollment in graduate courses is not just falling in the U.S.
For example, the number of full-time students from China studying in the UK rose by a little over 5 percent in 2013, according the Higher Education Statistics Agency. However, the number grew by just under 20 percent in 2012.
