College teachers who go to Southeast Asia to study for a doctorate The last option, the choice of "having to".
In March 2021, the China Service Center for Scholarly Study (CSCSE) issued a supplementary note on the accreditation of studying abroad during the pandemic. It is pointed out that in some countries, some universities and intermediaries have launched various ** courses under the pretext of the epidemic, and have attracted Chinese students on a large scale by lowering admission requirements, graduation requirements or shortening the duration of Xi, claiming that they can easily obtain overseas diplomas at home.
After spending more than two months in Malaysia, Xu Yan enjoyed the sea view there for the first time. At the end of July 2022, she and her friends traveled to Malacca, which is more than 100 kilometers away, to take advantage of the school holidays.
After receiving her master's degree in 2020, Xu Yan turned down a teaching offer at a university in Xinjiang and decided to apply to a Malaysian university for a PhD. In May 2022, she traveled from China to complete her Ph.D. at the university. Prior to this, Xu Yan had made full preparations and planned to take time to enjoy the sea view before the rainy season came.
However, the tutor set a tight schedule for her, making it impossible to arrange the trip.
In addition to coping with the challenges of graduation, Xu Yan also has to deal with the doubts of her friends from time to time. Someone asked her if the teacher would teach in ChineseSome people also joked, is it to study for a doctorate while traveling?At first, she would seriously push back at the remarks. But then, she became "too lazy to bother" because the person asking the question didn't really care about the real situation.
In the more than two years since the outbreak of the pandemic, the number of people entering and leaving the country has dropped significantly, but the Southeast Asian study abroad market has been exceptionally prosperous. Not only students like Xu Yan who are taking time off work to pursue doctoral studies in order to seek teaching positions, but also a number of intermediaries have reported that in-service ordinary university teachers have become the main force of Chinese students pursuing doctoral studies in Southeast Asia.
One agent described them as "ordinary people" in the school, who were not academically capable enough to teach at a leading university, but who were not content to be mediocre and still eager to pursue a doctorate to get a higher-level project, or to be promoted to associate professor, or to a better university.
Doctorates have become a necessity for development within the university system. According to the university teachers interviewed, due to the fierce competition for doctoral studies in China, coupled with the consideration of their own academic level and economic conditions, Southeast Asia has become a "must" choice for this group.
"Wide in and strict out" is a saying that international students often hear. In Malaysia, personalized pushes from domestic social ** are still able to accurately trigger Xu Yan's anxiety.
For example, there is some information about true and false rumors in the homepage recommendation: in June 2022, Shaoyang University brought in 23 PhDs from Philippine universities, while a university in Xiamen has refused to accept PhD students from Southeast Asia.
In addition, some study abroad agents have published advertisements for "package pass, package graduation, package certification" and "graduation in two years".
Not at all!Speaking of these advertisements, Xu Yan raised her voice in **, "It is impossible for any university in the top 500 of QS to 'water' out." ”
She is currently experiencing anxiety about completing her graduation requirements.
In August 2020, Xu Yan successfully applied for a PhD program at Taylor's University Malaysia, which lasts for three years. According to the latest QS World University Rankings, Taylor's University is ranked 284th, and the closest compared to Chinese universities is Sun Yat-sen University, which is ranked 267th.
During the epidemic, Xu Yan conducted online course Xi in China for more than a year. She didn't travel to Kuala Lumpur until April 1, 2022, after Malaysia reopened its borders. At this time, she was already in the second semester of her second year of doctoral studies, and the school no longer had a course schedule.
In the past month-long vacation, except for a short trip to Malacca, she spent most of her time in a rental house, facing computers to analyze data and write**. The first thing she has to complete is a small **, and according to the graduation requirements, at least one ** needs to be included in the Scopus database. In addition, the semester of the third doctoral degree has also begun, and the progress of graduation** also needs to be hurried.
Zhang Yuan, 33, is a teacher at a private university in Guangdong. I worked in human resources in a foreign company and immersed myself in an English-speaking working environment. However, when he stepped into Universiti Sains Malaysia, a prestigious local school that was ranked second in the local rankings, he struggled with the communication with his mentor.
When he first had an online meeting with his mentor, Zhang Yuan had almost no idea. The tutor's English has a strong Malay accent, and the pronunciation is fast and vague, which Zhang Yuan cannot understand. Half an hour later, he could only keep responding to "ok" and "i see". Later, he and his tutor switched to text communication, and it wasn't until two or three months of adaptation that he switched back to voice conversations.
Although the admission standards for management universities are not high, IELTS only needs to achieve a score of 5, which is even lower than the lower-ranked schools. However, Zhang Yuan found that the English level corresponding to a score of 5 was far from sufficient to meet the requirements of the actual class. He raised this concern with his tutor, who replied that the school hopes to give students more opportunities to "enter and exit" so that more people have the opportunity to change their academic qualifications.
One of the students who enrolled with Zhang Yuan, who was also a teacher at a university in China, was unable to communicate effectively with his tutor due to his poor English foundation, so he soon transferred to another school. However, even there, there were barriers to language communication, which eventually led him to drop out of school.
After the Shaoyang University incident, Zhang Yuan realized that this choice "outweighed the losses", "others may think that your doctor is mixed, only he knows it, and this is a serious reading".
However, both Xu Yan and Zhang Yuan admit when looking back on the starting point of their doctoral careers that there is no other choice. After communicating with doctoral students in Southeast Asia, the reporter found some common characteristics - for people with average academic qualifications, what should they do if they want to become university teachers?
Graduating before the age of 35 and having the opportunity to "enter a university in the system" to become a university teacher has always been Xu Yan's early life goal. She grew up living in the family area of the university, which was an environment she was familiar with. In addition, she is an only child, and as a teacher, she can enjoy the winter and summer vacations and spend more time with her family.
In 2020, Xu Yan graduated with a master's degree from an ordinary undergraduate college. She soon discovered that when she graduated from her bachelor's degree three years ago, most of the universities she could enter to teach with a master's degree had raised their academic requirements to a doctorate. In relatively economically developed places, it is almost impossible for a master's degree to become a university teacher.
Xu Yan eventually found a teaching position at a university in Xinjiang. However, in order to retain talent, the school requires inductees to sign a 5-year service agreement. This clashed with her goals. According to Xu Yan's plan, she must complete her doctoral studies before the age of 30.
Now the requirement of this school is a master's degree, and after three years, the minimum threshold may also be a doctorate. The job search experience gave Xu Yan a strong sense of crisis. She turned down a job that she could get and decided to dedicate herself to a PhD first. She felt that since a doctoral degree had become a must-have, she should finish her studies while she was young.
Having a similar experience to Xu Yan, Cheng Haoyu found a teaching position at a private university in Yunnan after graduating with a master's degree in 2021. One year of work experience has made him deeply appreciate the importance of doctoral degree in the evaluation system of universities.
For example, in the evaluation of professional titles, the difference between master's and doctoral degrees will directly translate into a rigid time for selection. The Yunnan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security and the Department of Education issued the provincial conditions for the evaluation of teachers' titles in colleges and universities, which stipulate that doctoral students can apply for lecturers after joining the company, and they can be promoted to associate professors within two years at the earliest. The master's degree is only eligible to apply from a teaching assistant to become a lecturer after two years of employment, and then it needs to go through another five years of lecturer qualification before applying for an associate professor. The longer the selection period, the greater the uncertainty: if a younger, better colleague emerges during this period, your place may be affected.
In the current evaluation system of universities, doctoral degrees are becoming more and more popular. In relatively economically developed areas, it has become almost impossible to enter a university teaching position with a master's degree. (*Visual China).
Cheng Haoyu was inspired by a colleague's experience to pursue a PhD in Southeast Asia. After receiving her doctorate in Malaysia, the colleague's wife became a high-level talent recruited by a public normal college in Guizhou, while Cheng Haoyu was assigned a job by the school as a family member. In this way, the couple successfully solved the employment problem.
The advantages of academic qualifications are also intuitively reflected in the salary level: an additional allowance of 5,000 yuan per month is issued, and the additional income can reach 60,000 yuan in a year.
In Cheng Haoyu's department, there are more than 40 teachers, of which 2 are studying for a doctorate in a domestic university, and 9 have obtained a "quasi" doctorate in Malaysia, and 5 people, including him, have just successfully applied in 2022. Most of the colleagues who are studying for their doctorates are post-90s and plan to graduate before the age of 35 to "have the opportunity to enter universities within the system".
For universities, the proportion of teachers with doctoral degrees is an important assessment indicator. For example, when universities apply to become master's degree-granting institutions, the Academic Degrees Committee stipulates that the proportion of doctoral degree teachers shall not be less than 25%. If you want to apply to become a doctorate-granting institution, this proportion needs to reach 45%.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Education Sciences, believes that this is closely related to the resource allocation system of universities. "The development idea of Chinese universities is still to tilt resources to the head", and the successful application for a master's or doctoral degree means that the quality of students, scientific research resources, and financial allocation will be greatly improved.
Therefore, schools tend to encourage teachers to apply for doctoral studies and upgrade their academic qualifications. At Cheng Haoyu's school, teachers are allowed to study abroad for Xi without pay. Zhang Yuan's school also actively encourages teachers to pursue doctoral studies, and if they can sign an agreement with the school to serve for a certain number of years after obtaining a doctorate, the school will also provide a tuition subsidy of 150,000 yuan.
Xu Yan sees studying for a PhD as a different form of work, "After I graduate from my PhD, I can enter a university through talent introduction and settling-in allowance, which is completely different from the way of making money, isn't it?"”
Choices within the scope of competence.
For teachers at these ordinary universities, the initial consideration of pursuing a PhD in Southeast Asia is almost the least favored option.
Xu Yan's first choice is to pursue a doctorate at a domestic university. Recalling the interview experience, she described it as a "disaster": "From going in, sitting down, to coming out, the whole process took less than five minutes."
The interviewer asked her a number of questions: What are the educational qualifications and occupations of her parents;Bachelor's and Master's degrees are studied in which schools;What is the college entrance examination score. After saying these questions, the interviewers were silent, "I felt that it was over, basically hopeless."
For in-service teachers, there is still an obstacle to pursuing a doctorate in China, and more and more universities are reducing the number of in-service doctoral places. As early as 2015, Southern Weekend combed through the doctoral enrollment regulations of 39 985 universities, and 5 of them clearly stipulated that "no recruitment" or "no recruitment" of in-service doctoral students was clearly stated13 institutes have limited the proportion of active doctors;There are also 3 schools that do not specify the ratio, but stipulate the condition that "each tutor can recruit a maximum of one".
Zhiping Xu is a lecturer at Northwestern University's School of Public Administration and has a long-standing interest in academic labor market research. In his opinion, in order to improve the quality of doctoral training, domestic universities have reduced the number of in-service doctors. This has left university teachers in an awkward position: the demand for part-time doctoral studies is increasing, but the supply is not expanding accordingly, or even shrinking.
Therefore, they turned their eyes abroad. Xu Yan initially considered going to Australia. She made a detailed cost estimate and found that it would cost three or four hundred thousand yuan to study abroad in one year, and millions of yuan to complete a doctorate.
A study abroad agency bluntly introduced in its *** article that studying in the Philippines is a "product driven by market demand", mainly serving two types of target groups: those who seek study abroad points to apply for residence and college teachers who have their professional titles assessed.
The article describes the Philippines as a cost-effective option: "Although the university level is average, the cost is small, the duration of the study is short, the doctoral supervisor is relaxed, and the academic qualifications are completely legitimate." ”
Dong Lin, a professional who advises on studying abroad in Malaysia, found that consultants are more likely to choose universities with lower rankings but are recognized by the China Service Center for Scholarly Study, "They don't pursue much for a PhD, just to get this degree to meet the needs of employers." ”
Some seemingly illogical phenomena are beginning to appear. Cheng Haoyu's colleague recently decided to pursue a PhD in Malaysia, and he himself is a master's degree graduate of the University of Hong Kong, which is ranked 21st in QS. Dong Lin's consulting group also includes graduates from well-known European and American universities such as the University of Birmingham and the University of Leeds, and their goal is simple and clear, just to "brush up" a degree.
"Cunning" intermediaries and people familiar with the study abroad industry are aware that this Southeast Asian study abroad boom is emerging in the wake of the pandemic. According to the usual way of thinking, the epidemic has made it more difficult to go abroad, and the number of international students should be significantly reduced, but study abroad agencies have found business opportunities through the point of "unable to leave the country".
On April 3, 2020, the China Service Center for Scholarly Study (CSCSE) issued a note stating that if you are unable to return to campus on time due to the impact of the epidemic and choose to take part of the course, resulting in a stay abroad that does not meet the requirements of the academic system, this will not affect the recognition of your degree qualifications. Although there was no clear regulation on the length of stay abroad, doctoral students are usually required to stay abroad for more than one year.
This means that during the epidemic, international students do not need to go abroad to complete their studies through domestic online classes. This undoubtedly provides an ideal option for working college teachers.
According to the Global Education Service Centre in Malaysia, the number of Chinese students more than doubled in 2021 from the previous year, from 8,876 to 19,202. While the number of international students from other countries is mostly declining, the overall proportion of Chinese students in Malaysia has risen from 42% to 63%.
Colleges and universities wanted to run schools well, but it was difficult to resist the troubles of intermediaries. Dong Lin lamented that after the epidemic, the study abroad market in Southeast Asia has become chaotic, and some intermediaries have come up with various tricks in order to make profits.
Zhang Yuan finally chose Malaysia, but was "misled" by the intermediary. At that time, the agent told him that he signed up for the "Winter and Summer Vacation Doctorate" program, and he could work on normal working days, while taking classes during the winter and summer vacations would not affect his work and easily obtain a doctorate.
However, after he enrolled, he found that the school did not have a "winter and summer vacation" doctoral program at all, only full-time and part-time, and the on-the-job channel is usually not open to foreigners.
During the consultation, some agents also recommended him to the assistant class service, paid an additional fee of more than 100,000 yuan, and promised that there would be Chinese teaching assistants to provide services for the students in the class. He later learned that the school had never provided such a service. Zhang Yuan speculated that this may be a translator hired by the intermediary itself, and then packaged into a product called "student aid class".
In the face of the influx of Chinese students, some universities have also lowered their standards and relaxed the quota limits.
In March 2021, the China Service Center for Scholarly Study issued a supplementary note on the accreditation of study abroad during the pandemic, pointing out this phenomenon. According to the explanation, universities and intermediaries in some countries have used the epidemic as an excuse to launch various ** courses, attracting a large number of Chinese students by lowering admission conditions, graduation requirements or shortening the length of Xi, and claiming that they can easily obtain overseas diplomas. Subsequently, the company announced that it would strengthen its scrutiny of nine universities, including the University of Sitria, which ranked second among private universities in Malaysia.
Not long ago, Liu Yan's international student *** had a student from Sitria University who complained that the school recruited a large number of Chinese students, resulting in a shortage of doctoral supervisors, and she had been in Malaysia for more than a month, and she had not been able to contact her tutor, "I felt cheated".
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