Chinese Graduates with American Degrees in Labor Market of China and the U.S.

• In Event: International Students and Employability

Proposal

Chinese Graduates with American Degrees in Labor Market of China and the U.S.
Chinese international students constitute one of the largest international student groups in the United States. After obtaining higher educational degrees in the U.S., many transition into skilled workers and enter the labor markets of both the U.S. and China. Their working choices and experiences demonstrate various patterns influenced by different factors. Extant literature tends to study the groups of international students and skilled workers separately, imperceptibly neglecting the connection between education and working for these international students. This study bridges this gap by examining experiences of Chinese student-turned migrants, focusing on nuances of their decisions and attitudes of working after graduating with American degrees, as well as the underlying rationales behind these choices.

This qualitative study uses the methods of semi-structured interviews and digital ethnography. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese graduates from U.S. universities who had been employed in the U.S. or China. Target participants all graduated within the past five years and have been employed for over three months. Digital ethnography was conducted in one of the most popular Chinese public social medias, Little Red Book (LRB). LRB creates digital communities for users and provides a unique platform for them to share personal stories in the forms of texts, pictures and videos. Many LRB users voluntarily shared their transnational education and work experiences through posts. Additionally, a significant amount of data was gathered from comments on these posts, where users discussed their experiences and views on transnational education and working in both the U.S. and China.

Preliminary results indicate that Chinese students graduated with American degrees have comparatively more positive attitudes towards workplace culture in the U.S. Those who work in the U.S. present a high degree of adaptation and satisfaction. In particular, they found that their education at U.S. universities was helpful in achieving workplace success, especially in areas such as critical thinking, work-life balance, communication, time management, and teamwork. On the contrary, many of those who chose to return to China and work in local Chinese companies felt unaccustomed to the Chinese hierarchical workplace culture. Many participants felt torn as what they learned in U.S. universities were not valued or even discouraged in Chinese working environment. For example, the emphasis on critical thinking, which these Chinese graduates learned to value during their U.S. education, sometimes hindered their success in local Chinese companies, where compliance was more strongly emphasized. Thus, some of them chose to work in international companies or sought opportunities to remigrate to the U.S.

The 2021 Chinese social media had emerged a new discourse called “润”. This character is the substitute of the English word “run” because of their similar pronunciation, which appeared during COVID time and was widely used by Chinese netizens to indicate their urgent intention to emigrate or “run” away from China because of the unbearable “Zero-COVID” policies. This discourse has increasingly been used within the digital community of Chinese graduates with American degrees working in China on LRB to express intentions of escaping Chinese workplace culture. Some who successfully found jobs in the U.S. even voluntarily shared strategies for escaping, aiming to communicate with potential 'runners.'

On one hand, this study highlights emerging concerns about the value of transnational education as it intersects with different labor markets for Chinese international students. On the other hand, it also sheds light into the role of online communication and community building among transnational individuals in the digital era. Additionally, digital advancements have facilitated a deeper understanding of transnational education and labor within the scope of this study.

Author

• Xiaohan Gang, Syracuse University