MA Degree in China

[Breaknet]

Hello everyone, there goes my questioning.

So far, I have been a bright Canadian international relations BA student and recently, I have decided to go to China in order to do my MA.

The problem is, many people told me that getting a relevant international relations job in China is nearly impossible at best.

Consequently, I think that it is time now to change my focus of studies in order to study in something that will be valuable later on.

Furthermore, please take into consideration that my maths skills are rather weak at best (but I might 努力努力学习！！）


Thanks everybody, I am thrilled to hear your answers

[Angelina]

The most important thing is: what are you going to learn? It will be imposible to get a job if you don't manage to learn much. Of course, spending time in China will be an enriching experience, but are you sure you can do well academically?

Same goes for the focus of your studies. What is it that you really want?

Be careful when choosing your advisor, no matter where you go to school. There are more interesting advisors working in Canada to choose from. That is why Canadian people are usually advised against going to grad school in China. Not to mention language of instruction and related issues.

I don't know that much about international relations, I guess there is some politics involved in the hiring process. If you change the focus of your studies, you might not have to worry about politics.

[Breaknet]

What I expect to learn is a comparative edge in management or business entrepreneurship over ''parachuted'' foreigners / expats.  Of course, I believe that the academic overall quality is much lower, but I also maintain that being fluent in a third language (in my case) may somehow compensate for any lacks. Furthermore, developing relationships is a great plus in China. But I might be wrong too.

But you are right about politics. It might be against my own interest to take a highly politicised major that could, later on, hurt me in the recruiting process.

(PS: So far, I have realized that humanities studies are all based on the reputation of your academic institution. Consequently, it is a bit upsetting to figure out that the quality of your diploma is only judged on the institution that delivered it and not about your real qualifications nor capacities.)

[Angelina]

Developing relationships is a great plus in China, the thing is, you have to know what kind of relationships you are going to develop. You should find a 导师 you want to work with. It is the people that make the place.

[889]

Do your MA at the best school that will admit you in Canada or the U.S. Get your professional skills down. Without them, you're nobody.

 

As to your Chinese language skills, it'll be your English language skills that move you along professionally in China, at least in a high-end business or banking environment. Sure, speaking Chinese has some guanxi-developing benefits, but don't over-estimate them.

 

Besides, if China doesn't work out for your personally and you head back, that hard-earned Chinese degree will be worthless.

[Breaknet]

Well, for the hard-earned part, I would say that this is a personal motivation that pushes me towards that degree: consequently, I would not regret too much the efforts that I would have invested in that project.

However, I am quite surprised to hear that only English has some meaningful impact on job development in China. I can't figure out that, between two greens parachuted in China, the one that speaks perfectly Chinese doesn't have an edge over the one that doesn't. It seems really simplistic.

But, I think that you are right about professional skills. These have to be developed. However, humanities, management, and business-like diplomas are too demanding on ''hard skills'' (i.e. I don't expect to learn how to code over there).

Finally, I would like to know where did you get that kind of information about that? (Friends, personal experience, readings, etc).

[889]

" . . . the one that speaks perfectly Chinese doesn't have an edge over the one that doesn't. It seems really simplistic."

 

If Chinese is your mother tongue and you have Chinese writing skills equivalent to those of a Mainland university graduate, then yes you'll be able to perform in a broader business environment. Otherwise, you'll be sitting in the back of the bus with the other foreigners.

[Angelina]

Do your best to be the best person you can be, no matter where you go, even when chances are you will find the right people to work with in Canada.

Are you applying this year?

[Breaknet]

Yes I am. Hopefully, if everything goes according to the plan, I should do one year of prep classes and then start my master degree.

But for now, I still have to be accepted by these Universities.

[Angelina]

What 专业 did you choose when you applied?

[Breaknet]

I am going for something like 企业管理。 Instead of working toes-to-toes against potential Chinese competitors, I would like to develop an expertise in managing international businesses and share it to foreign companies.

Consequently, it is some sort of applied anthropology that I would like to put into action. The customer might give me very precised guidelines for setting up a service business in China (or a joint-venture) and I would be there to smoothe down the transition. This is my broad plan.

 

[Breaknet]

Sorry for the red highlighting, totally out of my control.

[Angelina]

How does an MA fit into this plan?

[Breaknet]

To have some formal knowledge, to get some time to prepare myself (language, contacts) and to build up a stream of relationships.

[Breaknet]

Oh, I forgot to mention, the MA would be paid with a scholarship.

[Flickserve]

To have some formal knowledge, to get some time to prepare myself (language, contacts) and to build up a stream of relationships.

Just to let you know, once you work for about 10+ years, the place where you received your masters matters less and less and then the quality of your work becomes more important.

Case point - my friend is from a top Chinese University and went to Wharton Business School. She worked on a project and a law firm gave her a lawyer who was one year her junior in Business School to work with. Naturally, if you come from the same school and close together in cohort streams, then networking is very strong. However, the outcome was not good. The lawyer was too insistent on his own opinion and not flexible with other input. Despite him being an alumni, my friend had to fire her alumni from the project. Later, he left his law firm.

I think you provide good reasons for going to China. However, do not underestimate the initial years afterwards on the employment aspect. Wherever you did a master's, doing a good job become paramount. It may transpire you will want or need to do a second Masters in another country. The benefits of your networking in China may not surface until many years later and for some people, there might be no benefit.

Mind you, if you can get a scholarship for a Masters degree, why not? It's only a little time out of life.

[Breaknet]

 

Breaknet, on 20 Apr 2016 - 01:20 AM, said:

To have some formal knowledge, to get some time to prepare myself (language, contacts) and to build up a stream of relationships.

Just to let you know, once you work for about 10+ years, the place where you received your masters matters less and less and then the quality of your work becomes more important.

Case point - my friend is from a top Chinese University and went to Wharton Business School. She worked on a project and a law firm gave her a lawyer who was one year her junior in Business School to work with. Naturally, if you come from the same school and close together in cohort streams, then networking is very strong. However, the outcome was not good. The lawyer was too insistent on his own opinion and not flexible with other input. Despite him being an alumni, my friend had to fire her alumni from the project. Later, he left his law firm. 

I think you provide good reasons for going to China. However, do not underestimate the initial years afterwards on the employment aspect. Wherever you did a master's, doing a good job become paramount. It may transpire you will want or need to do a second Masters in another country. The benefits of your networking in China may not surface until many years later and for some people, there might be no benefit.

Mind you, if you can get a scholarship for a Masters degree, why not? It's only a little time out of life. 

I think that you are definitely right. And this is true that the first years are the ones that scare me the most: unexpected economic downturns, political upswings, developed skills that may become archaic, etc.

But yeah, this is also a way to get experience, knowledge and turns out that I won't get out of there with crippling debts. Doesn't seem that bad finally. =)

[Angelina]

To be honest, I think you should do a one year language course in China. If you are given the opportunity to get a scholarship, do this. It is free.

Learn the language as much as you can, learn how to read books in Chinese, become literate, network, have fun.

An MA? Yes if you tell me that you are planning to study Chinese philosophy under an eminent 新儒家 who is frequently traveling to international conferences on ethics. After you graduate, you can use the applied anthropology thing you mentioned above, you can convince people you understand Chinese culture. Not saying you should try philosophy, just using it as an example.

The I am going for something ... then work in some sort of ... plan is not a good idea, not because we are talking about China.

If you are thinking about an MA you should consider faculty, research interests, other grad students attending the same courses. A location might influence all of this (some countries offer better dorms than others), but the country is not the most important thing you should consider.

[Demonic_Duck]

If Chinese is your mother tongue and you have Chinese writing skills equivalent to those of a Mainland university graduate, then yes you'll be able to perform in a broader business environment. Otherwise, you'll be sitting in the back of the bus with the other foreigners.

 

That's an exaggeration. You do not need to be able to speak Chinese as well as a Chinese person for your Chinese to be an asset professionally.

 

A more realistic way of looking at it is this: look around you at non-native English speakers working in fully English-speaking environments. If your Chinese is as good as their English and you have other marketable skills, your Chinese will be an asset. Of course, it also depends on the industry you want to work in as to how much of an asset it will be.

 

In fact, your Chinese can be an asset at a considerably lower level than this if you work in a majority English-speaking environment in China. Even having a lower intermediate level is enough to have the odd casual conversation. At this level, it's not going to be your working language and it's not going to get you promoted, but it might just help you to make a good impression on your Chinese colleagues.

[Breaknet]

Yes, I definitely understand your point.

Consequently, this is the reason why I am looking to immerse myself in a fully Chinese MA for.. a few years.

I understand that I will never be a Chinese, nor their command of their language.

But after 3-4 years of daily practice, I should somehow have a certain mastery of the language. And this is where it becomes valuable... isn't?