Tech boom drawing more graduates back

Chinese graduates from foreign universities are returning home in bigger numbers than ever before, as the strength of the Chinese economy and the technology industry in particular being cited among a number of significant factors, Forbes has reported.

China is attracting back more "sea turtles", Chinese students returning home after completing their education abroad, with the fast growth of the technology industry proving the biggest draw in recent years, the report said.

Large tech companies such as Tencent and Alibaba are expanding "exponentially", while venture capital investments in smaller tech startups are growing at a fast speed, the report noted.

Citing government figures from 2011 to 2016, the report pointed out a significant increase in the percentage of students studying abroad, while noting an even larger increase in the percentage of those returning to China.

According to data from the Ministry of Education, 544,500 people from China went overseas to study in 2016, while 432,500 graduates returned home the same year, an increase of 5.72 percent from 2015.

The Forbes report also highlighted favorable pay packages and benefits for returnees, the career ceiling for Chinese graduates who work abroad and the sense of home as other main factors that continue to draw graduates back in greater numbers.

Another study shows that in 2017, Chinese students with foreign degrees were being paid 17.2 percent more than those graduating from domestic universities, according to a previous report in the South China Morning Post.