Abstract
China’s organized effort of sending students to study abroad is always associated with China’s self-strengthening ambition. Between 1978 and 2015, over 4 million Chinese students went to study abroad on programs of various levels, mostly in major Western countries, among whom, approximately 20% were supported by Chinese government scholarships. Regarding such an extraordinary effort, this chapter explores: (1) what characterizes the contemporary Chinese Government Scholarship Program (CGSP); (2) what are the highlights, strengths, and attainments of the CGSP; and (3) what have been the main drawbacks and challenges of the CGSP. Methodologically, this chapter treats both the phenomena of study abroad and brain gain as a necessary equilibrium in a given society, and examines them together in a holistic picture. A leading conclusion is that the former gives rise to the latter, with both serving the national development agenda of China.
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- 1.
This quota was already unprecedented in contemporary Chinese history. Even during those peak years in the 1950s, the number of Chinese scholars and students sent to the USSR was 2,000 each year at maximum.
- 2.
In 1988, the State inaugurated the policy of “Sino-foreign Joint Training of Doctoral Students” (zhongwai lianhe peiyang boshi yanjiusheng), which meant to draw international academic resources for the sake of training doctoral students at home; in 1990, China implemented the policy of “Deliberate Selection of a few Graduate Students for Pursuit of PhD Degree Abroad” (jing xuan shaoshu yanjiusheng chuguo gongdu boshi xuewei), in which the policy goal of “ensuring quality and returnees” (bao zhi bao hui) was explicitly stated and emphasized for the first time.
- 3.
The CSC included master’s students in its scholarship program in 2009, initially at a scale of around 400 per year, and has insofar supported 4,600 master’s students to study abroad. Since 2013, undergraduates are included as well, with a quota of approximately 3,000 per year. (Engberg et al. 2014, p. 15) Such development indicates a return toward the very original intention of the CGSP, that is, to boost raising top-notch talent from a young age.
- 4.
China’s foreign exchange reserve approached 200 billion USD in 2000. Joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 contributed to China’s rapid growth in international trade, and its foreign exchange reserve soared thereafter. By 2014, China’s foreign exchange reserve stood at close to 4 trillion USD, far ahead of any other countries.
- 5.
A 2002 research study indicated 92% USA-educated Chinese PhD graduates in the sciences and engineering fields remained in the USA 5 years after graduation, compared with 81% of Indian students, 55% of Canadian students, 43% of Taiwanese students, 33% of Japanese students, 32% of Mexican students, and 7% of Thai students. More recently, a US Department of Energy research study in 2011 found 85% of Chinese students awarded doctoral degrees in sciences and engineering areas stayed in the USA , while China’s own study in 2013 generated a figure of 87%.
- 6.
Many incumbents are on a part-time basis, as explained later in this chapter, and they exhibit a similar career/life pattern to the “Two Bases Program” described in Chap. 11.
- 7.
Some provinces and municipalities have established their own “1000 Talents” schemes at a local level.
- 8.
When China suffered from a severe brain drain in the 1980s, and many awardees of Chinese government scholarships chose not to return, then CCP leader Hu Yaobang, said: “It doesn’t matter; people who stay abroad will be patriotic overseas Chinese in the future.” His successor Zhao Ziyang said even explicitly: to “store brain power overseas.” This is indeed the case, some 20 years later.
- 9.
See Chap. 11 in this volume for more successful examples in the global competition for talent.
- 10.
This may add a piece of evidence to the discussion in Chap. 9 with respect to conditionality or restrictions of initiating social change on the part of returnees.
- 11.
China has been heavily leveraging government scholarship programs to pull inbound students, which is another important function of the CGSP, however beyond the scope of this chapter. According to information released by China’s Ministry of Education, in 2015 10.2% of inbound students were on government scholarships , among whom 89.4% were on degree-bound programs.
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Acknowledgement
We are grateful to Professor Leiluo Cai of the Graduate School of Education, Peking University, for her assistance and direction in data collection.
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Zha, Q., Wang, D. (2018). Case Study: The Chinese Government Scholarship Program—the Brain Development Scheme That Illuminates a Vision Across 30 Years. In: Dassin, J., Marsh, R., Mawer, M. (eds) International Scholarships in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62734-2_12
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