Stay vs. Return: That is a Question

• In Event: 469 - Section on International Migration Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Migration and Education

Abstract

The precipitous growth of international students from mainland China on American college campuses has been widely reported. However, besides the macro statistics and some high-profile media articles, we have no systematic and in-depth knowledge about these students’ experiences and needs in American universities. One of the key questions concerning Chinese students and American society is: after completing their education, do they plan to stay in the U.S or return to China? Drawing from the migration and immigration literature, this paper examines this question and critically evaluates the notion that international students somehow consider their education as a route to American citizenship (Borjas 2002). Using primary data collected by means of mixed-method designs, involving both online surveys and in-depth interviews. Our findings show that more than half of our survey respondents (53 percent) intend to return to China. Those who major in STEM fields, have many close American friends, and think their English is good are more likely to intend to stay in the U.S. Among those who want to return to China, some of them indicate their aspirations to utilize their overseas experiences to develop their career in the increasingly globalized world, not just China.

Authors

• Yingyi Ma, Syracuse University

• Yue Zhang, Syacuse University