China experience helps most NYU Shanghai graduates succeed in career
Yu Lizhong, chancellor of NYU Shanghai, speaks when releasing the university's first destination report at the university in Shanghai on February 9.
The 261 graduates from the first class of the New York University Shanghai, have achieved an overall placement rate of 94 percent in a variety of professional and academic fields since graduating in May last year, the first Sino-US joint venture college in Shanghai said on Friday as it released the first destination report for its inaugural class.
The class was comprised of over 290 students hailing from 34 countries including China and United States. A total of 141 Chinese students and 120 foreign students graduated last year.
The rest delayed graduation or dropped out. According to Chancellor Yu Lizhong, some students have not yet accumulated enough credits required to obtain their degrees, others dropped out realizing themselves either unfit for NYU Shanghai’s rigorous academic standards, or passionate for personal goals elsewhere.
Among the Chinese graduates, 51 percent were enrolled in overseas postgraduate programs in top universities, including NYU, Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Imperial College London, University of Melbourne, and etc. Thirty-seven percent have earned scholarships to continue their studies.
The rest of the Chinese graduates landed their first jobs with an average starting salary of 118,000 yuan (US$18,738) per year.
Of them, 74 percent are working in foreign companies and 86 percent of them found their first full-time jobs in business services, education, capital market services and the IT service industry. Notable employers include PwC, Boston Consulting, KPMG, Deloitte, EY and ZhenFund. NGOs and media agencies are also among the most sought after destinations.
Wang Jialing , a business and finance major, accepted an offer from ZhenFund to work at the company’s new East China office based in Shanghai.
According to Wang, the new office is, in many ways, a startup, much like NYU Shanghai five years ago.
“This kind of brand-new opportunity to start from scratch always excites me,” she said.
Scattered around the world and building on their experiences in China, most of NYU Shanghai’s 120 international graduates are also landing jobs, going to graduate schools and fulfilling a variety of life-enriching goals.
Among them, eight have opted to pursue postgraduate degrees at top Chinese universities, such as Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and Hopkins Nanjing Center.
Roxanne Roman and Jacko Walz from America were named 2018 Schwarzman Scholars, an honor that supports their master’s degree study at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Mehmet Erdogan from Turkey, who is now studying at Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance for a master’s degree, founded, with his roommate Yan Yayuan, a company focusing on China-Turkey two-way trade.
Another 11 international graduates took advantage of China’s new work permit policy that allows foreign students to stay for work after completing their studies.
Lathika Mouli from India is one of them. An electronic engineering major, she joined Energo Labs, a Shanghai-based blockchain startup, as a project specialist. She hopes to gain work experience in China before entering graduate school.
“At NYU Shanghai, the experience of integrating with people from different communities and understanding cultural differences while working on projects together has prepared me well for my current job,” said Mouli.
