中国学生出国留学是否划算 国情决定文凭不是成功决定因素

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.
中国知名企业家马云(Jack Ma)认为，在中国，经商能否成功与有没有外国名牌大学的文凭无关。他的名言是：“判断一个人、一个公司是不是优秀，不要看他是不是从哈佛(Harvard)或斯坦福(Stanford)毕业的。”

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.
对互联网公司阿里巴巴(Alibaba)这位联合创始人的观点，越来越多的中国家长显然无法苟同。他们中越来越多的人会拿出相当于家庭年收入三四倍的钱，送他们唯一的孩子出国留学。如今，一些家长开始质疑这笔投资是否值得。

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.
过去10年中，中国留学生的人数已增长逾两倍，而且还在继续增长。来自中产阶级下层家庭的留学生人数增长尤为迅猛：根据中国社科院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)的一份报告，2009年底，来自中产阶级下层家庭的留学生人数仅占留学生总人数的2%，但到2010年底，这个比例升到了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.
对于许多送孩子出国留学的中国家庭而言，钱并不是目的。但很多中产阶级下层家庭却是指望靠他们唯一的孩子养老的。

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?
外国的大学也越来越依赖于从中国留学生那里收取费用，以增加收入。但花费100万至200万元人民币(合16.5万至33万美元)去申请和取得一个外国学位，最后却回到一个700万大学毕业生找不到工作的就业市场上，这是否值得？

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.
中国招聘机构和人力资源专业人士称，归国留学人士（俗称“海归”或“海龟”，后者是取其海陆两栖之义）受聘做入门级工作时，薪水可能跟本土毕业生一样高、或仅略高一点。

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”.
中国第二富豪宗庆后曾将他的独女、当然接班人宗馥莉送到海外留学。结果，他最近在一个新闻发布会上表示，现年30多岁的宗馥莉“既不了解中国企业的现状，也不清楚国外情况”。

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.
中国主要招聘机构前程无忧(51job)首席人力资源专家冯丽娟(Jennifer Feng)表示，“拥有海外文凭的求职者和本土大学毕业生的起薪没有很大差别”。拥有海外文凭就能确保获得高薪工作的日子已经一去不复返了。

“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.
冯丽娟表示：“如今留学生的比例很高，他们所学的知识不是特别适合中国市场。”她补充称，中国不再只是将自己最聪明的学生送到国外了。

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.
如今很大一部分留学生成绩中等、甚至中等偏下，当初未能被中国国内的大学录取。不过，他们念的外国大学可能也不是一流的大学。冯丽娟说：“如今留学生念的大学中，有80%至90%是大多数中国人从未听说过的。”甚至在海外学习英语的经历都不再像以往那样重要了。招聘者表示，本土大学毕业生就能满足他们对英语能力的需求。