Despite holding degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious universities, many returning Chinese graduates are struggling to find good jobs, and the reason may not just be a spike in competition.
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Intensifying geopolitical tensions and national security concerns are also coming into play, according to observers.
Chinese graduates with foreign degrees are being excluded by many provinces in the xuandiaosheng, or “selected and assigned graduates” system, a recruitment programme for the civil service designed to select and train future elite cadres for the ruling Communist Party and government.
In the southern province of Guangdong, for example, graduates from institutions outside mainland China are not eligible to apply for the 2025 round, according to an official notice published in December.
This applies to all US Ivy League schools and other renowned institutions like the University of Cambridge and the National University of Singapore.
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Similarly, in the eastern province of Shandong, the latest recruitment policy for assigned graduates, published in October, said 2025 applicants would only be selected from domestic colleges and universities.