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Mia Nurmamat

For Daisy Chen, a graduate of one of China’s top medical universities, choosing Spain over Britain, the United States and Australia puzzled many of her friends.
Instead of following the well-trodden path to an English-speaking country, she began a master’s degree programme in healthcare management in Barcelona.
“I didn’t choose the US, the UK or Australia because they were too expensive, and I felt the competition there would probably be just as intense as in China,” she said. “I wanted to study somewhere I could actually enjoy life, rather than staying in that constant rat race.”
She found exactly that – until she graduated. Finding work proved far more difficult than settling into the city.
Since earning her degree in June, Chen said she had sent nearly 100 applications for positions in hospitals, laboratories and healthcare, mostly through popular websites such as Indeed and LinkedIn, as well as local recruitment websites, but had yet to receive a single interview invitation.
To support herself, she strings together several part-time jobs, including designing travel itineraries for Chinese visitors to Spain, working at trade fairs, teaching English online and teaching Chinese in person.
“I feel like Chinese people need a stable job,” she said. “Without one, it feels like something is missing.”
At least in Spain, people don’t think your life is over because you’re serving coffee
Amy Lin, graduate
Yet, returning to China would likely mean going back to an office job – and potentially working weekends. “I’m still asking myself whether I should go back,” she said.
Chen is one of a growing number of Chinese students choosing Spain as both a study destination and a potential gateway into the European job market.
According to the European Commission, master’s programmes in Spain typically cost between €1,000 (US$1,152) and €3,500 a year. That is a fraction of the roughly £9,000 (US$12,104) to £30,000 charged by British universities and the US$25,000 to US$60,000 common at many American institutions, according to various sources.
Lower tuition fees have helped drive a 77 per cent increase in Spain’s international student population over the past decade, according to Reuters.
Graduation, however, often marks the beginning of a different challenge. Spain’s youth-unemployment rate stood at 23.4 per cent in June, among the highest in the European Union, compared with 14.9 per cent for China’s 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students.
For Amy Lin, who graduated with a degree in architecture in Barcelona last summer, that reality arrived almost immediately.
She submitted several dozen applications with little response, while the idea of returning to China was unappealing, particularly given the country’s prolonged property downturn.
“I realised I was unemployed in both places,” she said.
To pay the bills, she worked as a barista. What surprised her most was not the job itself, but how little social stigma it carried.
“At least in Spain, people don’t think your life is over because you’re serving coffee,” she said. “In China, I think relatives would wonder how someone with an architecture degree from a good university ended up doing that.”


She has since found work at a local company helping Spanish businesses source products and connect with clients in China, earning about €1,600 a month after taxes. But with rent costing €1,000, saving money is nearly impossible.
“That’s the reality for a lot of young people here,” she said, pointing to soaring rents, which have been partly fuelled by an influx of digital nomads and a shortage of housing.
“I still have a job, the weather is great, and the food is amazing,” she said. “Sometimes I just tell myself that things might be even harder if I went back to China.”
At the same time, China’s growing investment in Spain is creating new opportunities for some graduates.
As Chinese companies expand their presence in Europe, Spain has emerged as an important destination, with investments ranging from Chery’s revival of a car plant in Barcelona to projects by BYD, CATL and Envision in electric vehicles and clean energy.
A joint ICEX-KPMG report published in July found that 97 per cent of Chinese companies operating in Spain planned to maintain or expand their investments, despite rising geopolitical tensions.
That expansion helped create an opening for Mark Li.
After graduating with a business degree in June, Li found work almost immediately. Rather than submitting applications, he contacted the founder of a Madrid-based travel company serving Chinese tourists. The owner had even seen some of the videos about Spain that Li had posted on social media.
“We got in touch one day and agreed to work together the next,” he said.
Today, his job combines travel with content creation, producing videos across Spain to attract Chinese visitors – a career that, for now, matches the lifestyle he came to Europe looking for.


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Economy

China Economy

Relatively low tuition rates and a more relaxed lifestyle appeal to young adults, while scarce work, high rents and expanding Chinese investment shape their prospects


Relatively low tuition rates and a more relaxed lifestyle appeal to young adults, while scarce work, high rents and expanding Chinese investment shape their prospects.


Why are some Chinese students choosing Spain despite its tough job market?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Relatively low tuition rates and a more relaxed lifestyle appeal to young adults, while scarce work, high rents and expanding Chinese investment shape their prospects

Relatively low tuition rates and a more relaxed lifestyle appeal to young adults, while scarce work, high rents and expanding Chinese investment shape their prospects