Abstract
Business English was officially approved to be an undergraduate major in China in 2007, which set off throughout China a boom of establishing Business English as undergraduate majors in educational institutions. Students swarm towards schools with Business English programs assuming their high job prospects after graduation. This study is a follow-up study comparing the return of education investment for two groups of graduates in Business English, one group graduating in 2013 as the first graduates of Business English in Guangzhou, the other group graduating in 2017. Online surveys were conducted to investigate whether urban and rural students differ in terms of starting salary, job prospects and further study decisions after they've completed the same popular program, and how their family backgrounds might affect their education decisions. Four years ago, a pilot survey confirmed such a gap between rural and urban students in their jobs and future; but the follow-up study four years later find that a change is taking place: rural and urban graduates are hardly distinguishable in their salaries and career decisions. The comparison of the serial studies suggests a higher rate of return for rural graduates in Business English program. Although this is only a case study for one particular program, it provides a window to rethink how opportunities and challenges surface for rural students amongst China's education expansion and the national urbanization movement.
Highlights
In China how to make a wise choice of bachelor program is of great importance to every high school graduate, urban or rural students alike
Business English is one of those popular university programs for years because it combines both language skill training and business orientations, having been a course offered by almost every educational institute in China for the past few decades, but as a degree, Business English was only approved by the Ministry of Education in 2007, firstly in 2007 in the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and in the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou and the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics respectively in 2008
In this study we have found a changing trend for rural students’ education return
Summary
In China how to make a wise choice of bachelor program is of great importance to every high school graduate, urban or rural students alike. University education is no longer a dream for high school graduates. After the first three approvals, more and more Business English majors were approved and up till September 2012, sixty-two universities have their business English undergraduate majors set up and began recruiting students; more than 2000 educational institutes are offering business English directions for their undergraduate students (Weng & Weng, 2012). Students swarm towards schools with Business English programs expecting their high job prospects after graduation
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