海外学历是否已经失去价值？

导读

During the past few decades, the social opinion on overseas education has changed. News reports about youths returning after studying abroad, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, but ending up with low-paying jobs have made people wonder whether it’s still worth sending their children overseas for education. Two education experts share their views on the issue.

在过去几年内，社会上关于海外教育的观念已发生些许改变。很多新闻报道一些斥巨资在国外留学归来的年轻人最终却只在国内找到了一些薪水平平的工作。这一现象不仅使一些家长思考将自己孩子送去海外留学这一举动是否值得。两位教育界专家对此观点进行了一些探讨与交流。

 

Unfair to label overseas diploma “worthless”

“海外文凭不值钱”这一观点是不科学的

As a young teacher working in a Chinese college after earning a college degree in the United States, I have to say that it’s neither fair nor respectful to label an overseas college degree "meaningless". Social attitude toward overseas returned students has changed from widespread appreciation to bias. This calls for employers to analyze different cases differently.

作为一个从美国留学归来现如今在中国大学任教的年轻老师，我认为“海外学历没有价值”这一结论下的非常草率，这种说法既不公平，也是对那些海外留学生的极度不尊重。社会上对于海外留学生的态度已经由原来的宣扬和赞赏到现在的充满误解和偏见，这需要用人单位具体问题具体分析。

That more and more Chinese students have easier access to overseas education than before does not necessarily mean overseas degrees have become worthless. For example, majors such as journalism, finance and engineering, are actually "imported goods". They did not exist in China, let alone the other majors in overseas universities that still have the best rankings around the world. So there’s no ground for questioning the quality of education Chinese students receive abroad. Take the major of business journalism I teach at the University of International Business and Economics. This major in Arizona State University ranks 1st in the US, and I believe people in China have barely heard the name of this university.

虽然现如今海外留学对中国学生的门槛相对较之前放低，但这并不意味着海外学历的含金量也随之下降。从某种意义上来说，诸如新闻、金融以及工程等专业实际上算是“进口货”，国内先前并没有设置这些专业，更别说那些在外国大学排名在世界前列的其他专业了。因此，我们没有理由去质疑中国学生在海外接受的教育质量。我现在在对外经济贸易大学教授商业新闻专业，该专业在美国排名第一的大学是美国亚利桑那州立大学，但我打赌很多人压根就没有听说过这所大学的名字。

Employers should not seek only candidates with Ivy League college degrees, but they should not be deceived by degrees from some mysterious universities overseas either. That is to say, they should not go to extremes.

我认为用人单位不能光看应聘者是否具有常春藤联盟大学的学历，也不应该一味排挤国外某些所谓不知名大学的学历。我的意见是，作任何判断都不能走极端，要有所衡量。

It’s good to see students becoming increasingly competitive thanks to their diversified academic backgrounds. Now it’s time for employers to evolve, to have the ability to differentiate between good and bad, in order to formulate a basic cognitive system to evaluate the quality of candidates who have studied abroad, as they cannot be identified as key universities like China. This will allow employers to comprehensively evaluate the candidates’ educational qualifications and personal abilities.

随着学术背景的多样化，现如今国内的学生也愈发富有竞争力，这是一件好事。既然学生们在不断提高，是时候也让用人单位进化一下了。招聘者应该具有区分好坏的能力，尤其是在有些国外不知名大学不被国内认可的前提下，正确认知并评估来自这些学校的求职者。这需要招聘者全方位评估应聘者的教育背景以及个人能力。

 

Overseas returned talents still rare

真正的海归人才仍旧稀缺

News about youths returning after earning a college degree and working for a few years abroad landing a job in China for a monthly salary of only 7,000 yuan ($1,089), much less than his or her pay overseas, prompts some people to believe overseas college degrees have lost their value.

有新闻报道，一些海外留学或海外工作几年之后回国的海归在国内工作的月薪仅在七千元（合1089美元）左右，远比在国外挣得薪资要少。这种现象使得一些人认为海外学历已经失去了原本的价值。

In the 1980s, the students who got government funding to study abroad were selected from hundreds of thousands of candidates. In the 1990s, the number of self-funded students increased, but most of them usually obtained their bachelor’s degree from a top Chinese university such as Tsinghua University or Peking University and then proceeded overseas for higher studies.

在上个世纪80年代，有很小一部分学生从成千上万的候选人当中脱颖而出，有幸得到政府资助前去海外留学。上个世纪90年代，自费出国的学生逐渐增多，但这部分学生大多都是在国内诸如清华北大等顶级学府成功获得学士学位之后再去海外进行深造。

Now anyone whose parents can afford to pay can get admitted to a college overseas. And in their blind race to get an overseas college degree, students even enroll in almost unknown or unrecognized colleges. However, of the about 544,500 Chinese students studying abroad in 2016－an overwhelming 498,200 of them self-funded－only 390,000 returned to China. And most of them were undergraduate or junior college students, with only 5 percent being PhD candidates. This shows talents with cutting-edge skills rarely return and are still precious "commodity".

现如今，只要父母有经济条件，任何人都可以去海外留学。很多人为了盲目追求一个海外文凭，便随意去一个不知名大学进行学习。在2016年前去海外留学的544500名中国学生中，有近498200名同学是自费出国，只有39万人后来选择回国。这其中大多数都是本科生或大专生，只有5%的比例为博士生。这一数据表明大多数拥有高精尖技术的人才仍旧待在国外，在国内仍属稀缺资源。

According to a rough estimate, given the current situation of the job market, a person with three years’ work experience will usually receive higher pay and better treatment than one holding a master’s degree. So operational capability and work experience are the two key factors that really matter in the long run, while a college degree is just a key to open the door to your career.

据粗略统计，鉴于当前求职市场的现状，拥有三年工作经验的求职者薪资和待遇会优于硕士毕业生。从长远来看，实践能力和工作经验仍旧是求职的两大重要法宝，大学文凭不过是叩响你求职大门的敲门砖而已。