How far from gaining more bright brains : a study on the factors that make Chinese overseas postgraduate students stay abroad

Abstract

As a large export country of international students and an active player on the globalization arena, China’s attractiveness for its overseas students has increased significantly so it sees the greatest amount of overseas returnees in recent years. Nonetheless, considerable numbers of postgraduate students with strong academic and professional competence choose to stay in the host country. The paper aims at seeking understanding of the main considerations of these young talents when they decide to stay after graduation. The “push-pull” factor framework in higher education firstly raised by P. G. Altbach is used to analyse the online interview data of 12 participants who are working or pursuing further study in the receiving country. The results reveal that freedoms and constraints in aspects of career/academic development and cultural/social life in both home and host countries are placed the most emphasis. What the interviewees valued most are: access to different career choices and professional development, fair competition, freedom of lifestyle and cultural recognition. This paper provides information useful for approaching the “brain drain, brain gain or brain circulation” problem in the Chinese context and outlines the importance of efforts made by Chinese higher education system and the whole society to retain the bright brains.