国际竞争视阈下美国理工科国际留学生的归留趋势及原因(1980—2016)

An Analysis on the Stay-Rate Trend and Related Reasons of International Students in Science and Engineering in the U.S.from the Perspective of International Competitions(1980-2016)

自20世纪中期特别是80年代以来,赴美留学生作为人力资本跨国复合体,在完成学业后获得了更加广阔的国际视野、跨文化交流的能力,以及跨国就业的竞争力。因此,各国赴美留学生,尤其是拥有理工科博士学位的留学生学成后滞留不归的现象比较突出。这种现象既源于美国不断完善的人才吸引政策体系,也是世界各国围绕留学生和技术人才激烈竞争的结果,还是留学生个人回收其人力资本投资的选择。经过留学期间的专业训练,他们不仅成为名副其实的技术人才,而且许多人的价值观、文化与民族认同也发生蜕变,因而在选择未来去向时会从个人利益出发,优先选择到各方面条件都优越的美国等发达国家定居。而那些在美国事业发展不畅,或对母国有强烈民族认同感的人则会选择回国。从学生到移民的过程表明,每个人都必须经过美国就业市场和作为主权国家标志的移民政策的双重过滤,否则就会被拒之门外。这一史实不仅推翻了所有强调市场而淡化国家主权因素的国际移民理论,也证明了国际学界唱衰国家主权理论的缺陷,同时还向学界提出了正视经济全球化进程中市场与国家主权因素之间内在关联的历史命题。

Since the middle of the 20th century,especially the 1980s,international students in the U.S.,as transnational complex of human capital,obtained broader international vision,transcultural communication capabilities and competitiveness in international labour market.Accordingly,international students from all over the world,especially those who held doctoral degrees in STEM,increasingly preferred to stay in the U.S.permanently.This phenomenon was attributed to not only consequence of fierce global competition on international students and technical talents,but also the choices of international students regarding the return of human capital investment.Through the professional training during the study,they became real technical talents.Moreover,the changing of the values,as well as the cultural and national identity,happened among many international students.Consequently,they would make future choices from personal interests and give preference to settle down in the U.S.and other developed countries which have excellent conditions in all aspects.On the contrary,those whose career did not go well in the U.S.or who had strong national identity of their homelands would choose to return to their own countries.In the process of the changing from students to immigrants,it showed that everyone had to satisfy the needs and standards of the U.S.labour market,as well as the immigration policies as the mark of the sovereign state.Otherwise,they would be rejected.Such historical facts not only invalidated migration theories that emphasised the role of market instead of national sovereignty,but also proved that the flaws of the depreciation of national sovereignty in the international academia.Furthermore,it put a historical proposition to emphasise the intrinsic connection between the market and the national sovereignty in the process of the economic globalisation.