All fired up

China's most popular employment reality TV show, only you, 305 applicants find a job has seen since it started in late 2010, with 51 of them are students who studied overseas. It doesn't sound like a recipe for controversy, but it is.

Only you is filmed by Tianjin TV Station and hosted by Zhang Shaogang. At its May 20 broadcast weakened the 32-year-old Guo Jie, who in France for 10 years and earned three degrees studied, on stage as was argued that his Master was a fake.

The jury saw his BAC + 5 degrees (equivalent to a master's degree) as a high school graduate diploma.

This is not the first time that overseas returnees are challenged on the show.

In January, in New Zealand studied Liu Lili, answered Zhang's questions in English occasionally and claims that her favorite literature was William Shakespeare's "heroic couplets"-which seemed to irritate Zhang enormous.

In the past few months, the TV program is a controversial topic on Sina Weibo, online, especially because of the Guo fainting incident and because many viewers think the program that is biased against overseas returnees.

A video of the show was also posted on YouTube with English subtitles, and has tens of thousands of hits. There is even a parody of the show, which changes from Guo (with a rainbow colored face) and the judges in cartoon characters.

The former head of Google China, Kai-fu Lee, who was trained in the United States, responded by a campaign to boycott the show to start.

During the online activities of one week showed their opposition to the programme, 410,402 participants while 24,438 participants were positive.

"Not the way it maligns programme and applicants for no good reason except to attract an audience," Lee said in an interview with teases accept Zhongguo Wangshi website. "I have to apologise to the program the students requested and she has to take any action, so I started the online campaign against it."

Other recurring students were also turmoil and on June 7, the production team of only you, including presenter Zhang Shaogang, appeared in Beijing to more than 20 student returnee representatives face and apologize.

The discussion was heated, and lasted four hours, with the students describe their experiences of studying abroad.

Xue Lei, who graduated from the University of Sydney, in 2009, said that each recurring student had their degree ratified by the overseas students Center, affiliated to the Ministry of education.

He said every student who studied abroad knew this, but presenter Zhang had no idea.

"It was during this discussion that I realized I knew very little about students from abroad," admitted Zhang after the meeting.

"We tend to be more critical to applicants who return from overseas because we want them to understand that the labour market in China is hard," Zhang explained.

"I never studied abroad, and my only experience in travelling abroad," Liu Shuang, producer of the show, said during the meeting. "After several unpleasant incidents we realize that we know too little about international education or students abroad experiences. We need to learn a lot from you about your studies and experiences as we continue with the program. "

Among the representatives of the student, had four returned from France and showed their teaching certificates and explained how a master's degree is earned in France.

However, there are also students who support the program position.

Zhang Meng, one of the four students from France, said: "I think Zhang Shaogang is exactly the right thing does. I stayed in France for quite a few years and I watched the show when in France. It is true that there are students who lead a pampered life, cheating in exams and even spend a lot of money on fake degrees. They may also get good jobs when they return to China. "

Zhang Meng said it is "100 percent OK" on demand return of students about their degrees.

' It's just the way he is and that is why we look to the program, "she said.

In a survey conducted by www.eol.cn, China's largest education portal, 9 million people registered for the national college entrance examination in 2012, 1.4 million fewer than in 2008.

At the same time, student applications to study abroad for higher education is 20 percent year-on-year since 2008.

"I understand their concerns and I will try to improve myself," said Zhang Shaogang.

"But those accusations wouldn't bother me at all."