How Much Should a Tsinghua University Graduate Be Making?

A diploma from a prestigious Chinese university might not be that special any more.

- Shuli Ren

It's post-graduation season in China. Tiger Moms are naturally comparing notes on the salaries of fresh alumni from top universities. What kind of return might they expect, after spending years—and sometimes a fortune—demanding academic excellence from their offspring?

A doctor friend told me recently that her son got a job at Huawei Technologies, considered one of the most prestigious employers in China. The young man studied computer science at Tsinghua University and then Brown University in the U.S. Huawei is starting him at 400,000 yuan (S$72,600) a year, the parent beamed.

Is my friend's son getting paid too little for this kind of resume? Tsinghua is synonymous with status in China, counting among its famous alumni President Xi Jinping and his predecessor, Hu Jintao. It churns out fewer than 10,000 graduates a year, about the same as Harvard.