Opening Doors

By+Xia+Yuanyuan+and+Yang+Chen

For 26-year-old nigerian student olufemi Lawal， China is home. He has set his heart on seeking employment in the country after completing his studies， but past regulations meant the inconvenience of leaving the country for a lengthy period before being able to return to job hunt.

According to the Regulations on the Management of Employment of Foreigners in China enacted in 1996， international students were unable to work during their studies or get a visa to work in China without at least two years of post-study work experience abroad. This made it impossible for international students to obtain a work visa on the completion of their studies in China.

However earlier this year， a good-news policy announcement put smiles on the faces of Lawal and other students in the same predicament.

The Chinese Government issued a statement， outlining requirements for eligible international graduates who can get jobs in China. According to the statement， starting from this year， international graduates with a masters degree from a Chinese or a foreign university can seek employment in China. The requirement of a minimum of two years work experience is no longer necessary.

“Personally I think this [policy] is fantastic，” said Lawal. The policy came at the right time for Lawal who has been in China for eight years. He studied computer science in Tianjin Polytechnic University on a Chinese government scholarship， and will graduate this year.

In January， Lawal prepared a resume and started looking for a job in China. Now， he is doing an internship in Tianjin.

“If I have to go back to Nigeria to work for two years and then come back [to China] to look for jobs， it is something that really bothers me a lot because I have invested a lot here，” he noted. “I spent all my adult life here.”

Actually， international students have been allowed to start businesses and seek employment in Shanghai and Beijing in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The new policy means they can now do so all over China.

With its rapid development， China has seen more and more foreign students come for their university education. Figures from the Ministry of Education show that more than 440，000 foreign students studied in China in 2016， up 35 percent from 2012. This means a lot more of them will start careers in China.

Encouraging startups

Apart from making it easier for foreign graduates to take up employment in China， the Chinese Government has also adopted measures to encourage them to start their own businesses and embrace the entrepreneurial spirit.

Feuba Hermann from Cameroon is one of the many who have taken advantage of the startup policy. He set up his own business in China early this year.

In 2011， Hermann participated in a Chinese language competition held by the the Confucius Institute in Yaounde， capital of Cameroon， where he studied Chinese. In his speech My Chinese Dream， he expressed his idea of starting a career in China. He then applied to study in China. Eighteen months later， he was admitted to a postgraduate program at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Now， he has opened his own translation company in Beijing and was issued a five-year work visa.

Although he encountered many challenges from the outset， Hermann is full of confidence. “China is very big， and is developing. In its process of growing， there are so many opportunites for Chinese and foreigners. Thats why I opened my company in China. Im happy I realized my dream，” he told ChinAfrica.

Opportunity knocks

Sun Jianming， Director of the China Service Center for Scholarly Exchange， said that with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative， Chinese enterprises now have an increasing demand for foreign employees. In response to the governemnts favorable policies for international students who want to start their careers in China， the center has held three job fairs for foreigners with Peking University.

In April 2016， the first job fair was held in the Zhongguancun ScienceNPark in Beijing. For foreign students， it proved to be a golden opportunity to meet receptive recruiters face to face， network， and hopefully line up for interviews.

In line with the countrys Belt and Road Initiative， the third job fair for international students was held in April 2017. About 2，700 international students from more than 30 universities and scientific research institutions attended the fair. A total of 39 well-known Chinese enterprises including CRRC， China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd. and Hainan Airlines offered more than 500 positions for foreign graduates.

A highlight of this years fair was the participation of many technological innovation enterprises， willing to provide the technical and incubation support for those who want to start up their businesses.

Challenges

For international graduates， both opportunities and challenges exist while starting a career in China， according to insiders.

With Chinas opening up to the outside world， international graduates with fluency in both their mother tongues and Chinese are in big demand. But for those who dont speak Chinese， getting employment information can be a major headache as many job hunting websites are only in Chinese.

“Now there are less restrictions for foreign students. I hope there will be more information channels for us. It would be quite good if there was a multi-language website that can help students find jobs， especially for foreigners，” said Lawal. He hopes more professional and targeted employment services will be provided for foreign students.

In addition， due to the increasing number of university graduates annually， students in China are facing fiercer competition for jobs. According to the Ministry of Education， a total of 7.95 million college students are expected to graduate in 2017 （almost the same number as the population of South Sudan）， 300，000 more than in 2016. Obviously this means that not only local graduates， but also foreign graduates are finding the job market tough.

But experts are still optimistic about international students seeking careers in China.

“China has a stable society and friendly people. Here， foreign students have enough space to develop their careers and realize personal values，” said Yu Lijun， Director of the Department of International Affairs， University of International Business and Economics.

Yu suggested that foreign graduates should be goal-oriented when searching for jobs in China. “As long as you [international students] seize the opportunities and make full use of your advantages in language， you will have promising job prospects in China，” he said.