China's Doctoral program for foreign students contradicts having a 'quality' workforce: Report

Beijing [China], April 21 : The announcement of the Doctoral program for foreign students to study in China contradicts Beijing's recent claims of having a 'quality' workforce of 900 million to provide a strong impetus for development, reported Asian Lite International.

This comes after the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, took a sharp dig at New Delhi saying that while assessing a country's demographic dividend, it is also important to look at not just its size but also quality as India surpassed China's population on Wednesday to become the most populous country in the world.

"When assessing a country's demographic dividend, we need to look at not just its size but also it's quality. Size matters, but what matters more is talent resources. Nearly 900 million of the 1.4 billion Chinese are of working age and on average have received 10.9 years of education," Wang Wenbin said.

Notably, the UN world population dashboard stated that India now has 1428.6 million people, surpassing the Sino population, which is currently at 1425.7 million. This is for the first time that India has topped the United Nations' list of most populated countries, ever since the UN began collecting population data in 1950.

If there was a talent pool already available in the country, why would it then open its doors to foreign research scholars? The students must consider China's ulterior motives before endorsing the program, reported Asian Lite International.

The Chinese government is pouring huge subsidies for the program to an approximate estimate of 1,60,000 RMB per student that includes a cumulative subsidy for tuition fees, living allowances, research allowances, annual international round trip travel expenses, and medical and accident insurance during the period in China.

However, the possibility of hidden additional benefits for such students cannot be ruled out, reported Asian Lite International.

First, it may be an attempt to attract talent from all over the world to come to China offering them greener pastures and lucrative offers that would impel the students even after their doctoral program to continue their research in China thereby giving a boost to the R&D development in the country.

Second, it may also be an attempt to Sinicize the highly talented youth from various parts of the world.

Even if these students and professionals return to their home countries after completing their PhD and research work in China for many years, they will be messengers to promote the good image and ideological thinking of China, reported Asian Lite International.

It offers non-Chinese foreign students a highly subsidized Doctoral program in a Chinese university. The duration is of three to four years.

The candidates must be non-Chinese foreign postgraduate students. They must possess Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) Level 5 and above and must have obtained a master's degree, or are fresh graduates of a master's degree. This give some hint towards this ill intention of China reported Asian Lite International.

Though this program has been initially announced in the field of humties and social sciences, with its success it may also be expanded in the science, strategic and highly sophisticated technology domains to satiate the needs of the Chinese industry, businesses, economy and to the greatest extent in the military technology fields.