China restricts top government jobs to domestic graduates

Graduates of foreign universities are being excluded from applying to elite civil service jobs in China, casting further doubt on the value of an overseas degree.

According to the South China Morning Post, more than 10 provincial governments, including Beijing and Shanghai, did not offer recruitment pathways for overseas graduates in their 2027 “selected graduates” (xuandiaosheng) scheme.

The xuandiaosheng programme trains graduates to become public officials within the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and government. Participants in the scheme spend several years at a provincial level before moving on to more senior positions at state level.

Tens of thousands of graduates are recruited annually for the programme but every province takes a different number of students. For example, Guangdong typically recruits roughly 2,000 graduates per year. 

Ming Cheng, professor of higher education at Sheffield Hallam University, told Times Higher Education that the Chinese civil service has “always favoured domestic graduates” but the trend “reinforces a view that an overseas education no longer delivers the guaranteed socio-economic mobility it once promised in China”.

According to Cheng: “On social media, returning graduates used to be described as haigui (sea turtles) – highly prized global talent – but are now labelled haifei (overseas returning waste).

“This vocabulary shift highlights that studying abroad is increasingly perceived as poor value for money as the domestic job market tightens.”

China’s outbound student numbers fell to roughly 570,600 in 2025, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Against this backdrop, Cheng argued that it is “critically important for universities in traditional host countries to improve post-study employment pathways if they are to retain international competitiveness amid a shifting global market”.

However, Sabrina Wang, CEO of Aslan Education Planning, felt that the new policy was “unlikely to affect families planning overseas study”.

“Its prominence in public discourse stems not from real-world impact but from resonance with certain audiences, such as traditionally minded readers who oppose studying abroad yet lack the means or intent to pursue it.

“Domestic social media amplifies such coverage for engagement, while Western outlets reporting on it risk misrepresenting Chinese families’ actual motivations for overseas education.”

Wang said Chinese students go abroad for various reasons, including lower Gaokao scores, alternatives to domestic academic pathways or their families pursuing overseas immigration.

“For today’s China, overseas study increasingly serves average students seeking degrees unavailable to them domestically”.

Wang also explained that the “selected graduates” programme was very different to other government jobs. Entry requirements include CPC membership, student leadership experience and academic excellence.

Prospective appointees often come from families with government careers and are often uninterested in studying abroad.

rosalind.skillen@timeshighereducation.com