[educationdata]

This number does not mean much. In the old days, more Chinese students rely on full scholarship to study in the US. Now, more and more rich Chinese kids (mostly come with very poor academic background) can study in the US.

So the overall number does not reflect "brain drain", because not all international students can be counted in "global talent". A more meaningful number should only count those graduated from good universities, or having scholarship etc.

[LastMuel]

Wait, are you saying the only valuable students are the ones that didn’t pay for their education? Because that’s what it sounds like you’re saying.

[seanmcdirmid]

No, what parent is saying is that there is a huge difference between a rich Chinese kid studying political science and a workin class Chinese kid studying computer science on a PhD stipend. The former has boomed in the last 10 years while the latter was pretty constant for the last 20+.

[whoevercares]

Working class Chinese family in many cities now could also afford a two year master program(e.g Stony Brook U only cost me about RMB 300k for the entire Master with a decent CS program). My family is just normal working class with yearly income about 100k RMB. It’s not quite accurate to attribute all masters to “Rich” because ordinary income has been flying in China

[ummonk]

I mean, this speaks to the one child policy as well as the value put on education in Asia. From a western perspective having to spend 3x annual household income on a masters degree would be absurd.

[seanmcdirmid]

China has a very high savings rate and often a dearth of investment opportunities for that money (a bubbly real estate market or a insider trading heavy stock market), education abroad can provide pretty good returns comparatively.

[whoevercares]

Yep my mother was saying she can’t find a better investment opportunity than education for this 300k RMB (an awkward amount of money)

[seanmcdirmid]

True, but then I bet those students are still more into studying STEM than their richer counterparts who are more likely studying liberal arts or biz subjects.

[kevin_thibedeau]

Little wonder when we get "math is hard" Barbie.