More returning to China after study overseas, Education Ministry says

Chinese students are increasingly choosing to return home after studying overseas, with some graduates saying better job prospects are driving their decision.

Figures from the Ministry of Education showed 353,500 people who went overseas to study came back to China last year, nearly 30 times the number of returnees seen at the beginning of the century.

A survey by the ministry found that more than 60 per cent held master's degrees, while 30 per cent had only a bachelor's degree. Six per cent had obtained a doctorate.

Countries they were leaving included the United States, Australia, Britain, Japan, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand.

Dr Henry Wang, president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based think tank, said the overall environment in China had improved and the economy held brighter prospects. "It's easier to get employed in China than elsewhere," Wang said.

Six years ago 180,000 people went abroad to study and 70,000 returned. In 2012 the figure was 400,000, with returnees increasing more than three-fold.

The centre issued a report on China returnees last year and it showed 70 per cent of Chinese studying overseas planned to come back, most of them born in the 1980s, into single-child families and wanting to be near their parents.