中國學生出國留學是否划算 國情決定文憑不是成功決定因素大綱

Jack Ma, one of China’s best-known entrepreneurs, thinks business success in China has nothing to do with prestigious foreign degrees: “When you want to judge whether a person . . . is excellent or not don’t look at whether they went to Harvard or Stanford,” he is famous for saying.
中國知名企業家馬雲(Jack Ma)認爲，在中國，經商能否成功與有沒有外國名牌大學的文憑無關。他的名言是：“判斷一個人、一個公司是不是優秀，不要看他是不是從哈佛(Harvard)或斯坦福(Stanford)畢業的。”

More and more Chinese parents apparently disagree with the co-founder of internet company Alibaba: they are increasingly spending three or four years’ annual family income to send their only child for foreign study. Some are now asking whether it is worth the investment.
對互聯網公司阿里巴巴(Alibaba)這位聯合創始人的觀點，越來越多的中國家長顯然無法苟同。他們中越來越多的人會拿出相當於家庭年收入三四倍的錢，送他們唯一的孩子出國留學。如今，一些家長開始質疑這筆投資是否值得。

The number of Chinese studying overseas has more than tripled in the past decade and continues to shoot up. The rise has been particularly dramatic among lower-middle-class families: according to a report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, up to the end of 2009 students from such families made up only 2 per cent of all those who studied overseas, but by the end of 2010 the proportion had risen to 34 per cent.
過去10年中，中國留學生的人數已增長逾兩倍，而且還在繼續增長。來自中產階級下層家庭的留學生人數增長尤爲迅猛：根據中國社科院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)的一份報告，2009年底，來自中產階級下層家庭的留學生人數僅佔留學生總人數的2%，但到2010年底，這個比例升到了34%。

For many Chinese families with children overseas, money is no object. But many lower middle-class and working-class families are counting on their only child to support them in their old age.
對於許多送孩子出國留學的中國家庭而言，錢並不是目的。但很多中產階級下層家庭卻是指望靠他們唯一的孩子養老的。

Foreign universities also increasingly rely on fees from Chinese students to boost their income. But is it worth spending Rmb1m-2m ($165,000-$330,00) on preparing for and completing an overseas degree, only to return to a job market where seven million graduates cannot find jobs?
外國的大學也越來越依賴於從中國留學生那裏收取費用，以增加收入。但花費100萬至200萬元人民幣(合16.5萬至33萬美元)去申請和取得一個外國學位，最後卻回到一個700萬大學畢業生找不到工作的就業市場上，這是否值得？

According to Chinese recruitment agencies and human resources professionals, people who have studied overseas – known as “haigui”, or sea turtles, because they have one foot on land and one in the sea – command little if any salary premium when they start entry-level jobs back in China.
中國招聘機構和人力資源專業人士稱，歸國留學人士（俗稱“海歸”或“海龜”，後者是取其海陸兩棲之義）受聘做入門級工作時，薪水可能跟本土畢業生一樣高、或僅略高一點。

Zong Qinghou, China’s second-richest man, sent his only daughter and heir apparent, Zong Fuli, to study overseas. As a result, he told a recent press conference, the thirtysomething Ms Zong “knows neither the current situation for Chinese enterprises nor the situation abroad”.
中國第二富豪宗慶後曾將他的獨女、當然接班人宗馥莉送到海外留學。結果，他最近在一個新聞發佈會上表示，現年30多歲的宗馥莉“既不瞭解中國企業的現狀，也不清楚國外情況”。

Jennifer Feng, chief human resources expert at 51job, the leading Chinese employment agency, says there is “no big difference between the starting salaries of those holding overseas or local university degrees”. Gone are the days when an overseas degree ensured a top-paying job.
中國主要招聘機構前程無憂(51job)首席人力資源專家馮麗娟(Jennifer Feng)表示，“擁有海外文憑的求職者和本土大學畢業生的起薪沒有很大差別”。擁有海外文憑就能確保獲得高薪工作的日子已經一去不復返了。

“The proportion of students studying overseas these days is high and what they study isn’t particularly suitable to the Chinese market,” Ms Feng says, adding that China is no longer sending only its brightest students abroad.
馮麗娟表示：“如今留學生的比例很高，他們所學的知識不是特別適合中國市場。”她補充稱，中國不再只是將自己最聰明的學生送到國外了。

These days a big proportion are average or below-average students who failed to gain entry to university in China. But the foreign institutions they attend may not be top-notch either: “Eighty to ninety per cent of the overseas universities that they attend these days, most people in China have never heard of them”, Ms Feng says. Even studying English overseas is no longer so crucial: job recruiters say they can meet their need for English speakers with locally trained graduates.
如今很大一部分留學生成績中等、甚至中等偏下，當初未能被中國國內的大學錄取。不過，他們唸的外國大學可能也不是一流的大學。馮麗娟說：“如今留學生唸的大學中，有80%至90%是大多數中國人從未聽說過的。”甚至在海外學習英語的經歷都不再像以往那樣重要了。招聘者表示，本土大學畢業生就能滿足他們對英語能力的需求。Liu Yinwei of Jinzun Investment Consulting was inundated with candidates at a recent job fair in Shanghai, but he was not looking for those with foreign degrees. He has sales jobs to fill and the last time he hired a returnee with a UK master's degree, “he thought he knew a lot and therefore . . . he looked down upon clients”.
在上海最近舉辦的一次招聘會上，金尊投資諮詢(Jinzun Investment Consulting)的劉銀偉（音譯）收到了大量簡歷，但他想招的不是那些“海歸”。他要招聘的職位是銷售。上一次他聘用了一位從英國留學回來的碩士，那個人“認爲自己懂的很多，因此……看不起客戶”。

For Gao Wei, 25, attending the University of Melbourne was not her first choice, but she did not make the cut for a top Chinese university. Four years in Melbourne cost Rmb1m, she says, and paying it was “no big deal” for her parents, businesspeople in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing. Was it worth it? “It wasn’t my money so I have no views on the return on investment, but I have very beautiful memories of those four years.”
對於25歲的高偉(音譯，見右圖)而言，攻讀墨爾本大學(University of Melbourne)並非第一選擇，但誰讓她沒考上中國國內的一流大學呢？她說，在墨爾本學習4年，花了100萬元人民幣，這對於她（在華東城市南京經商）的父母而言只是“小菜一碟”。那麼，這筆錢花得值得嗎？“這不是我的錢，所以我對於投資回報率沒有看法，但這四年爲我留下了非常美好的回憶。”

Sandra Yoo, 28, took a different approach: she knew her family could not afford a foreign undergraduate degree, so she studied in China first and then went to the University of York for a one-year master’s in public economics. That year cost Rmb260,000, and her starting salary at a Chinese equities firm was Rmb220,000. She wants her child to study in China first too: “If they go abroad too early they lose their connection with classmates,” she says. In China, classmates often form an invaluable network for business.
28歲的Sandra Yoo走的是一條不同的道路：她知道，父母負擔不起自己的留學費用，因此她先在中國唸完本科，然後赴約克大學(University of York)攻讀了一個一年期公共經濟學碩士學位。這一年的花費爲26萬元人民幣，而她在中國一家股票公司的起薪是22萬元人民幣。她也希望她自己的孩子先在中國唸完本科。她說：“如果太早出國，他們就會失去大學同學這份人脈。”在中國，同學關係往往會爲經商提供非常寶貴的人脈資源。

Gu Huini, 26, spent Rmb500,000 of her parents’ money getting a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. “Going to the US, the expense is like living in a four- or five-star hotel every day,” she says. Ms Gu, an elegant, poised young woman who speaks excellent English, says she was ill-prepared for her course of study and found the experience so distressing that she joined an education consultancy to help families avoid similar mistakes. Agents themselves can be a big part of the cost of overseas study, though: they charge between Rmb30,000 and Rmb300,000 to arrange overseas admission.
26歲的谷慧妮(音譯，見右圖)花了父母50萬元人民幣，獲得了哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)的新聞學碩士學位。她說：“在美國讀書的花銷就像是天天住四星或五星級酒店。”谷慧妮年輕、優雅、鎮定自如，操一口流利的英語。她說，她自己對留學準備不足，那段經歷讓她非常痛苦，因此她加入了一家教育諮詢機構，以幫助其他家庭避免類似的錯誤。不過，留學中介機構本身收取的費用也可能佔到海外留學費用的很大一部分。申請人被國外的大學錄取後，留學中介會收取3萬元至30萬元人民幣不等的費用。

One of China’s first overseas students, Xia Yingqi, now works with the Beijing government to help attract high-level returnees. Is foreign study worth it for the new generation of sea turtles? “It’s really not just about jobs and salaries: living in a foreign country, the whole country is your university,” he says. “I think it’s a good choice.”
中國第一批海外留學生之一夏穎奇現在在北京市政府工作，幫助吸引高素質留學人員歸國。對於新一代“海歸”而言，留學是否值得？“留學的意義其實不僅僅在於工作和薪水——住在外國，整個國家都是你的‘大學’。”他說，“我覺得這是個不錯的選擇。”