Critical Reflections on Mainland China and Taiwan Overseas Returnees’ Job Searches and Career Development Experiences in the Rising Trend of Anti-globalisation

Abstract

In the last few decades, the growth of gross enrolment ratios in higher education in the Asia and Pacific region reveals an increasing level of economic, social and political confidence within the region. The consistent and enhanced performances of higher education systems in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia and Taiwan are revealed clearly by different global university league tables, such as QS, Times Higher Education and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking. Many governments in Asia believe investing in higher education would enhance their national competitiveness in the global marketplace. Therefore, different public policy measures have been adopted to engage not only the public sector but also the private sector to create more higher education opportunities, which has resulted in the massification of higher education. With a strong belief that higher education investments would bring good returns to both individuals and the nation, governments and families, individuals in Mainland China and Taiwan have followed the similar trends outlined above. An increasing number of individuals have sought education overseas with the confidence that it would bring them positive returns and enhance their job search and career developments after they have obtained degrees from foreign universities. This article sets out against this sociopolitical context to conduct a critical examination of how students from Mainland China and Taiwan who have graduated from UK universities evaluate the effects of overseas studies on their job search and career development. More specifically, this article reflects critically upon the value of international learning against the growing wave of anti-globalism and heated debates that question the value of the internationalisation of higher education.