If you are a PhD student in America, The Economist notes, there’s a good chance that your undergraduate degree came from Tsinghua University in China. “That’s because Tsinghua and Peking Universities are now the top feeder schools for American PhD programmes”:
American students who do have the skills necessary for a quantitative PhD might also be less likely to pursue graduate work, because these skills are in high demand. A clever graduate with strong quantitative skills can fetch a high salary right out of university. The alternative of seven years of indentured servitude to your adviser probably sounds less appealing to many recent graduates.Students from China do not face such high-paying alternatives at home. Also, now that the number of H2 visas for skilled labour has decreased, PhD programmes provide a path to America for some. This helps explain why the number of foreign students in PhD programmes increased remarkably between 2001 and 2006. After completing their studies, most foreign-born students hope to stay in America.