By Yu Xuming and Du Liya Source:Global Times Published: 2013-5-27 15:53:01
Chinese overseas students who major in liberal arts are facing a harder future as they are often less competitive than American liberal arts students and less welcomed than their compatriots who study natural sciences.
Statistics from the Institute of International Education show that there were 194,000 overseas students from the Chinese mainland for the 2011-12 school year, 226,000 when students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are included.
Chinese students are often fond of business and management, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, and social sciences.
Liberal arts students find it tough to get job offers. Zhao, an international relation graduate from George Washington University, has only found a company which can offer the Optional Practical Training (OPT) but not an H-1B working permit.
Li, Zhao's girlfriend and a communication graduate from Georgetown University, has received no offer yet, not even an OPT.
She told the Global Times that her major makes it difficult to find a decent job because most Chinese students can hardly meet the language requirements of the media industry in the US while the whole industry is now shrinking amid increasing layoffs.
Zhao told the Global Times that he did not regret his choice, but gave suggestions to those who are preparing to study abroad, saying that good planning, rich working experience and social connections are helpful in job seeking.
Natural science graduates have better possibilities. Since US students often choose liberal arts or business, overseas students who study natural sciences, especially engineering and high-tech industries, are helping to meet the great demand for talents in the country.
Meanwhile, overseas students are less competitive than Americans in terms of cultural background, language and social connections. Government positions that require liberal arts degrees often only enroll US citizens or permanent residents.
CareerCast, a major job-seeking website in the US, lists the top ten best jobs, including actuary, biomedical engineer, software engineer, audiologist and financial planner. But the worst ten include newspaper reporters.
According to the latest Accenture survey on graduates, 41 percent from 2011 and 2012 have not found jobs as of yet or are doing work which needs no university education, and 32 percent are paid an annual salary of less than $25,000. Only 16 percent of 2013 graduates had found a job before April 1.
An Adecco report said that the US unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in April and the figure for graduates between 21 to 24 is up to 8.8 percent, 3 percentage higher than that of 2007.
The comprehensive immigration bill, under hotly debate in the US Congress, will provide more visas to high-tech and highly-educated foreign talents, such as doctors and scientists.
The bill will increase the H-1B visa quote from 65,000 to 110,000 every year, with the US master's cap amended to include only US master's degree holders in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) fields from 20,000 to 25,000. It will make it even harder for liberal arts students to find jobs.