Study: One in four Chinese students drop out of Ivy League schools

One in four Chinese students attending Ivy League universities in the US drop out, according to a study on recruitment of returned overseas graduates.

The students, who were all high-achievers in China, were unable to adapt to the new environment largely due to differences in the educational system and language barriers, said the 2013 Overseas-returned Graduate Recruitment Report citing statistics collected from the universities.

And of those who do graduate, an increasing number choose to look for work in China. Half of the returning graduates cited “economic conditions” as the main obstacle to staying overseas, followed by saturated overseas employment markets and poor social skills, which accounted for 38.9 per cent and 33.6 per cent respectively, the survey found.

The study, published by EIC, China’s largest overseas study service agency, was based on a survey of more than 9,000 professionals in 23 major cities across various industries, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. 

This latest blow to the market for overseas education comes amid the largest-ever wave of graduates returning from overseas.

According to the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG), a non-profit think tank based in Beijing, over 270,000 overseas graduates returned to China in 2012, up 47 per cent from a year earlier. It also said 70 per cent of the entire overseas graduate population chose to seek jobs in China.