Estimated 5.2 Million Graduate School Applicants, 800,000 More Than Last Year
Youth Unemployment Rate Ages 16-24 Nears 20%... Concerns Over High Education Inflation
[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Cho Young-shin] It is projected that the number of graduate school applicants in China will exceed 5 million for the first time ever this year. This is analyzed to be due to a sharp increase in college students changing their career paths to graduate school amid worsening employment difficulties.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Education and others on the 27th, the number of graduate school applicants for the 2023 academic year in China is estimated to reach 5.2 million. This is an increase of 630,000 from last year's 4.57 million applicants, with dominant forecasts expecting an increase of more than 800,000.
This year, the number of Chinese university graduates (fall semester system) is 10.76 million, the highest ever recorded. Numerically, it is calculated that more than half of the university graduates are graduate school applicants.
The estimated capacity for graduate schools in China is 1.3 million. The competition rate for graduate school admission is over 4 to 1.
The proportion of university graduates in China who enter graduate school is usually around 20%. With the significant increase in university graduates and those unable to find employment switching their career paths to graduate school, the number of graduate school applicants has greatly increased.
The sharp rise in graduate school applicants reflects the difficulties faced by the Chinese economy. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the youth unemployment rate for ages 16 to 24 in July was 19.9%, the highest since statistics began. Considering the youth population aged 16 to 24 is 107 million, the number of unemployed in this age group exceeds 21 million.
As employment became difficult, the number of college students preparing for civil service exams also surged, estimated to have more than doubled compared to previous years.
Some in China are expressing concerns about educational inflation producing only highly educated individuals amid economic growth slowdown.
State-run media have also begun to voice concerns about youth unemployment in China. The Global Times reported that the youth unemployment rate for ages 16 to 24 was 18.7% in August, improving by 1.2 percentage points from the previous month but still at a high level.
Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, said, "The employment pressure on young people remains prominent, so continuous efforts are needed to stabilize employment," and added that policies to support employment for this key group will be further expanded.
The Chinese Ministry of Education will conduct the nationwide graduate school entrance examination on December 24 and 25.
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