Chinese students appearing for postgraduate entrance exam drop amid lack of job options: Report

Beijing [China], December 24 : The number of applicants for China's 2024 National Postgraduate Entrance Exam (NPEE) has dropped for the first time since 2015, China-based Global Times reported citing the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Sunday.
According to the experts, the decline could, to some extent, be a sign of more rational thinking among Chinese graduates when choosing their future direction. They also noted that the country still needs to provide more diverse job options for young people.
According to the statistics from MOE, the number of applicants for the NPEE was 4.38 million for the 2024 exams, an 8 per cent decrease from the 2023 number.
Experts noted that the decline is worth noting but it doesn't mean the NPEE has become less popular among undergraduates.
"The number of applicants for 2024 is still 2.65 times the number of those for 2015, which was 1.65 million. This still shows an apparent popularity," Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday, noting it is difficult to pass judgement on the trend based on a single year's change in data.
MOE said that the number of Chinese college graduates was 11.58 million in 2023 and is likely to reach a record high of 11.87 million in 2024, an increase of 290,000 graduates. Notably, the number of college graduates will increase in 2024, whereas the number of applicants for postgraduate studies will decrease.
According to the experts, the decline is due to the fierce competition over the past two years, when job opportunities were curbed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Many graduates chose to continue their studies as an option for getting through this difficult period. But the situation has become better this year with applicants for postgraduate studies finding their way out of school other than furthering their studies," said Tan Xiudi, director of the Education Evaluation Center at Tongji University.
Besides this, the 25 per cent low acceptance rate of the NPEE is also a factor that dissuades attendees, Global Times reported, citing experts.
The statistics show that more than 70 per cent of postgraduate students admitted to Tsinghua University will be recruited through recommendations in 2024, and more than 60 per cent of postgraduate students admitted to Peking University will be recruited through recommendations.
Considering the acceptance rate, the time spent in postgraduate studies and other factors such as financial costs and opportunity costs, more and more students have become more rational in pondering the choice between furthering their studies and other options, the Global Times reported citing the experts.
The experts further noted that the decline in the number of applicants for postgraduate studies is the result of more opportunities being available compared with the pandemic period and the increase in civil servant recruitment for 2024.
A teacher from a university in Beijing told the Global Times on Sunday that the number of students in his class who plan to study abroad after graduation next year is double the number of those who applied for postgraduate studies.
As per the National Civil Service Administration, a total of 3.03 million candidates passed the qualification examination to sit the national public servant exams, an increase of 435,300 compared with that in 2022, or 16.76 per cent year-on-year.
In addition to this, the increasingly fierce competition in job-seeking among postgraduates and even PhD holders also makes people understand that a higher education background does not necessarily assure a well-paying job, according to the Global Times.