For the first time, the number of masters and doctorates graduating in Beijing will exceed that of college students.

(Reuters file photo)

[Compilation of Wei Guojin/Taipei Report] Su Xiuli, deputy director of the Employment and Entrepreneurship Guidance Center for College Students in Beijing, China, pointed out that in 2023, the number of college graduates in China is expected to reach 11.58 million, and Beijing will account for about 285,000, both of which are record highs. Among them, Beijing will For the first time, the number of master's and doctoral graduates is expected to exceed that of bachelor's students. She said, "The employment situation in this year's graduation season is still relatively severe." Flexible employment (informal employment or part-time jobs) has become the new economic norm.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in the first two months of this year, the unemployment rate among youths aged 16 to 24 was 18.1%, equivalent to 1 out of every 5 young people.

This compares with 19.7 percent in December last year.

Su Xiuli told the Beijing News that a recent survey showed that 40% of college graduates are pessimistic about finding a job this year. "Students still feel a lot of pressure."

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She said, "Students should not all think about doing jobs that are 'highly successful'"; and flexible employment has become a new economic pattern. It is a new change in social development, and we all have to understand and adapt to it.”

The South China Morning Post reported that Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, pointed out that many universities in Beijing have expanded the enrollment of their research institutes and at the same time controlled the number of graduates. Therefore, the number of Ph.D. This trend is unlikely to change in the future.

In recent years, Chinese universities have expanded their enrollment of graduate students. In 2020, China’s Vice Minister of Education Weng Tiehui said that this move is to ease the employment pressure of college graduates.

More than 4.74 million college graduates will take graduate exams in 2022, an annual increase of 3.7%, compared with 1.77 million in 2015.

Xiong Bingqi said that the difficulty of finding a job is the main reason for the influx of college students into research institutes, "but the question is whether universities can ensure the quality of education in research institutes, and whether our society needs so many master's and doctoral students"?