A South African graduate from Tsinghua: "you cannot study international politics without understanding China"

The reasoning

Studying international relations in China was, for this applicant, not a compromise but a logical requirement. His argument was that China's role in international affairs had become too significant to study global politics without understanding the country directly.

He studied at Tsinghua from 2013 to 2015 on a Chinese Government Scholarship and completed a master's in international relations. After graduating he joined Huawei's South African operations, where he applies the China-specific knowledge the degree gave him to work on digital infrastructure in South Africa.

The second example in the same cohort

A second graduate in the same group studied international relations at Jilin University and built an unusually dense record of public activity: elected class monitor, a summer seminar at Fudan University, attendance at the New Development Bank annual meeting, and representing Jilin University at a Model United Nations competition in New York.

He credits the degree with a measurable change in his thinking and public speaking, both of which came from the frequency of debate and presentation the programme required, and he went on to give a keynote address at a youth forum in Egypt. He is now employed by Deloitte, tracking economic developments in China and other emerging markets.

What these accounts have in common

Both applicants turned a China degree into employment that specifically requires China knowledge — a Chinese technology company operating in Africa, and a global consultancy tracking emerging markets. Neither treats the degree as a general qualification to be applied elsewhere.

That is a pattern worth noticing when writing a study plan or preparing for an interview: the strongest answer to "why China" is usually not about cost or rankings but about a job or a research field in which China is directly relevant.