'Cultural bridges'

To qualify for a Chinese work permit, foreign graduates need to have at least two years of post-college work experience-a high threshold, according to Wang Huiyao, director of the Center for China and Globalization, an independent think tank based in Beijing.

"Basically, many foreign students want to stay in China, but they can't. If a foreign graduate gets a bachelor's degree and wishes to stay and find a job, it's impossible for them to obtain a work permit," he said.

Compared with Chinese graduates of overseas schools who find work abroad, the percentage of international students at Chinese universities that go on to land jobs in China is low, Wang said.

Yet this appears to be a wasted opportunity. With more Chinese enterprises attempting to tap overseas markets, Wang argues that there is massive demand to recruit international students to act as "cultural bridges".

In early 2017, the central government introduced a program to ease the employment restrictions for some foreign students, allowing those with postgraduate degrees or who had attended "well-known" universities to obtain Chinese work permits just a year after graduation.

Candidates must be healthy and have a clean criminal record, a B grade average (or 80 out of a 100-point scale) and a job offer related to their major that pays a salary no lower than the local average, according to a joint circular issued by the ministries of education, foreign affairs, and human resources and social security.

Successful applicants receive a one-year work permit, which can be extended up to five years upon renewal.

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, part of the Education Ministry, said lowering the employment threshold for foreign students serves the strategy to reinvigorate China's HR development.

Foreign employees can give domestic enterprises an advantage as they expand overseas, plus it's only logical that these graduates want to put to practice what they have learned, he said.