For the first time, the employment rate among postgraduates is lower than that of graduates in southern China's Guangdong Province.

 

Li Xiaolu, the Deputy Head of the Guangdong Provincial Education Bureau, revealed the figures when attending a meeting on employment of college and university students.

 

He noted that the employment rate for postgraduates was 94.37 percent in Guangdong at the end of 2006, and 97.25 percent for university graduates. For postsecondary vocational college students, the figure was 95.57 percent.

 

In 2004, a similar survey found that postgraduate employment rates were 20 percent higher than those of undergraduates.

 

Such statistics will no doubt make people rethink whether or not it is worth pursuing postgraduate study, considering the high costs of studying and the two to three years' duration.

 

Wang Yue (alias) said she graduated from the Department of Journalism of Jinan University in 2001. She then found a job at a famous media company, with a monthly salary of more than 4000 yuan (US$515). In 2004, she resigned and resolved to prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam. Wang has calculated that it would cost her about 200,000 yuan (US$25732) for two years of postgraduate study, which includes the potential earnings she has lost up over the same period. Weighing up these costs against the average pay differential between university graduates and postgraduates, Wang concludes that the economic value of such investment is hard to ascertain. But, she claims, she herself simply wanted to experience the life of a research student. And, taking a longer view, she believes that only those with a high educational background and working experience will stand out in the severe job market of the future.

 

The lower employment rate is almost certainly due to the high expectations of postgraduates regarding salary and good jobs. Many postgraduates will not accept a job with a monthly salary of less than 3000 yuan (US$386). They prefer to work in state-owned companies and government departments. And such students often target job opportunities only in big cities where demand for postgraduates is less than the current supply.

 

However, though there are many doubts regarding the worth of postgraduate study, the popularity of the postgraduate entrance examination is considered unlikely to change. 

 

(CRI January 30, 2007)