The first groups of college graduates since the government enlarged enrollment in universities are encountering pressure in the job market. Educational specialists who are attending the First Session of the 10th National People's Congress and the First Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference denied that the increase in education enrolment is a cause for job market place pressure.

Hou Zixin, deputy to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) and president of Nankai University denied that enlargement in the education sector had such a negative effect for graduates.

In an interview with China.org.cn, he said, "If these students don't accept higher education, they will still have to search for a job in that market without qualifications and that would postpone their employment prospects further."

"Top planner, Zeng Peiyan, promised in his report to the on-going session of the 10th NPC he would announce 8 million new positions in the job market. The number of graduates this year will be far less than that number so it should be possible for graduates to find the work they seek," he said.

He said that the increase in pressure for the applicants was in the graduate's stubborn notions.

"College students are now quite picky. They don't want to work in some sectors like the service sector which they think is not suitable for them," Hou said.

Many graduates think only about the money when taking their graduate job, he added.

"With the adjustment of industries like IT, the number of positions available is influenced by global and local factors and so there can inevitably be a sharp fluctuation. What's more, China has over 100 million surplus workers in the country so it is inevitable that graduates will face some pressure," Hou said.

However Hou does think that graduates need not be worried as talent is still in great demand where as labor is in abundance.

He thinks that with a key university like Nankai it is possible to improve the overall quality of the graduate instead of simply enlarging enrollment.

Yuan Guiren, a member of the 10th CPPCC National Committee and vice minister of education, holds a similar view. In an earlier interview with China.org.cn, he said that in the next few years enrollment in Chinese universities would not maintain its previous momentum but would have an annual growth of just 5 percent.

He said that enrollment enlargement didn't contradict a graduate's prospects.

"In the past, the government and universities didn't attach great importance to graduate employment but now it has been given the priority it deserves," Yuan told China.org.cn.

(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Tang Fuchun, March 14, 2003)