A Study On The Graduation Destinations Of International Students In China Based On Push-pull Theory

Since the reform and opening up,China’s economy has achieved phenomenal success,largely due to the "demographic dividend" generated by its large working-age population.However,as China enters the 21 st century,it is entering the second half of the demographic dividend,with overall population growth slowing down and labor costs rising.While China’s demographic dividend is diminishing,the demand for diversified talents is increasing with the economic restructuring and industrial restructuring.How to accelerate the transformation from "demographic dividend" to "talent dividend" is one of the key challenges for China to establish competitive advantage in talent resources in the new era.International students from different countries are potential international talents and play an important role in China’s international competitiveness.Statistics show that by 2021,the total number of international students in China has exceeded700,000,an increase of nearly 80,000 from 2020.Among them,there are many potential talents with solid knowledge,broad vision,knowledge of China,friendship with China and love of China.How to attract and correctly utilize international students in China is of great significance for China to cope with the global competition for talents and the development of international students to China.This paper takes the graduation destinations of international students in China as the research object,and conducts research on them by means of questionnaire and interview to understand their purposes and motives of studying in China and their graduation destinations,and analyzes the influencing factors of different graduation destinations based on the push-pull theory model combining internal and external factors.The results of the study show that there are three main types of graduation destinations for international students,namely,returning to their country,staying in China and going to other countries.Among them,the largest number of students have the intention to return to their own countries,followed by the intention to stay in China,and the least intention to go to other countries.In addition,the interview survey found that there is a tendency of diversification in the graduation destination of international students.Among them,the intention to return to their country is mainly influenced by the push and pull forces of subjective intention,family belonging,residence and work visas,living expenses and cultural differences;the intention to stay in China is mainly influenced by the push and pull forces of conditions to realize one’s dream,employment opportunities and social infrastructure;the intention to go to other countries is mainly influenced by the push and pull forces of family support,economic development,employment environment and political situation.These forces influence international students’ intention to graduate from China.These forces have different degrees of importance in influencing the graduation destinations of international students in China,and they may change among themselves.In addition,the experience of coming to China for education and study can be transformed into personal advantages when international students are looking for jobs after graduation,and to a certain extent,it also has an impact on the graduation destination of international students.At the same time,the language and cultural differences encountered in China may also push international students to choose to return home or go to other countries after graduation.The purpose of this study is to understand the current graduation destinations of international students in China and the factors influencing them,so as to encourage more international students to think deeply about their future graduation destinations,provide reference for overseas students who will come to study in China,and at the same time,encourage universities to optimize the cultivation programs and employment service guidance for international students in China and promote the transformation and upgrading of the work of international students in China.