Attitude to the future profession of Chinese students in Russia

Abstract

. Students are a special social group who strive to obtain higher education and master a highly qualified profession. The purpose of this study was to determine the attitude of Chinese students in Russia to their future profession. It aimed to compare the attitude to the future profession of 1 st and 4 th -year Chinese students studying in Russia and Chinese students studying in China. Additionally, we compared the attitude to the future profession of Chinese and Russian students. The study involved 720 full-time students of humanities at Henan University (China) and Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (Russia). The methodology included the author’s questionnaire “Spheres of life”. Most students are satisfied with their chosen profession. The responses of Chinese students studying in Russia in the 1st year differ significantly. They are satisfied with their future profession only in 32% of cases. Chinese first-year students in Russia and especially in China have a higher readiness to enter the master’s programme than in the fourth year. On the contrary, Russian students are more willing to continue their master’s studies at the senior level. These results are explained by the high value of education in traditional Chinese culture and the desire of Chinese first-year students to fulfill their parents’ will. Later, life plans are adjusted. All students are also noted to be ready to work in their specialty, except for Chinese first-year students studying in Russia. It was revealed that the attitude to the profession of Chinese students differs from the attitude to the profession of Russian students. The identified differences are due to the adaptation difficulties of first-year students beginning their studies in a foreign country, as well as social and cultural adaptation. During their studies, Chinese students successfully overcome adaptation difficulties.