China's national postgraduate entrance exam began on Saturday
with 1.2 million registered participants, 6.3 percent down from
2007 and the first drop in almost a decade.
The number of people registering to take the exam soared from
319,000 in 1999 to 1.28 million last year, an average annual
increase of 17.2 percent. But the current drop left hints in 2007
that the growth was simply 0.7 percent.
Insiders attributed the fall to a changing employment market,
the reduced quality of postgraduate education and increasing costs
in postgraduate courses.
China began expanding its university recruitment in 1999 and the
number of college graduates had reached record high for years. This
led to tough competition for employment.
This year's output is expected to be 5.5 million graduates.
"I took graduate courses mostly because it would be easier to
find a job with a higher diploma," said Zeng Minghua who received a
master's degree in 2001.
However, with the increasing recruitment in the past few years,
a higher diploma does not always get the reception expected.
Currently, about 1.5 million people are studying in graduate
courses nationwide.
A Peking University Public Policy Institute report issued last
month said 66.66 percent of graduates with a master's degree found
jobs in July. This was only slightly higher than the 65.52 percent
for those with a bachelor's degree.
The stereotype that higher education brings more promising
career prospects is also challenged by changing attitudes of
employers.
"We are looking for employees who are worth the pay," said Zhang
Changwu who runs a company in the southern Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region. "If a graduate and postgraduate have similar
skills and experience, we will pick the former for the sake of a
lower salary."
The whole society, including employers, are more rational
towards degree and diploma holders and many are inclined to take
account of skill and experience, said Mao Zuheng, an expert from
University of Science and Technology Beijing.
Others also question the quality of graduate courses at some
universities.
Professor Qian Zongfan of Guangxi Normal University reasoned
that while the number of graduate students had increased, the
number of faculty had not. "Obviously, students will not receive as
good training as before. A tutor might have 20 to 30 students now,
compared with two or three 10 years ago," he said.
This year, some candidates were held back because of a new
tuition policy.
Domestic universities usually sort their postgraduate students
into two categories according to their performance in the entrance
exam. Those with higher scores enjoy free education in all two or
three academic years and the others pay themselves.
But last year, 17 universities, including the elite Tsinghua,
Peking and Fudan schools, replaced the one-off policy with yearly
scholarships based on academic performance.
This year, all 56 universities that offer postgraduate courses
will adopt the same policy, the Ministry of Education
stipulated.
Among the 1.2 million sitting for the exam, many hope to find a
good job but not through a diploma.
"Many of my classmates take graduate courses here because they
want to stay in Beijing, a big city offering more opportunities,"
said Wang Dan, a postgraduate at the Beijing-based Communication
University of China. She said the two or three-year courses can act
as a cushion to explore the job market locally.
But others are also interested in doing research and teaching on
campus.
Compared with the cooling enthusiasm for the postgraduate
entrance exam, the civil servant recruitment examination is, in
contrast, red hot. A record 640,000 people competed for 14,000
government jobs this year, up 12 percent from 2007.
Although the competition is tougher than the postgraduate
entrance exam, it gives successful candidates access to a stable
income, high social status and good welfare insurance.
China, however, faced a tough task in 2007 with a reported 12
million people unemployed in cities. Despite this, it set a goal to
add nine million new jobs last year.
Experts noted unemployment may get worse due to a tightening
monetary policy the country adopted for this year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2008)