Graduates of Prestigious Chinese Universities Choose Graduate School
Many Also Opt for Studying Abroad
Last year, the actual employment rate of graduates from prestigious Chinese universities was found to be around 20%.
On the 11th, local media including Bongmyeon Newspaper reported that among 3,226 undergraduate graduates from Fudan University, a prestigious university in Shanghai, 583 were employed, accounting for 18.1%. Additionally, 1,714 students advanced to domestic graduate schools, and 564 went abroad for further studies, resulting in a continuation rate of 70.6%. Local media analyzed that graduates chose to pursue higher education or study abroad to gain more specialized knowledge and secure better jobs. However, there is also an analysis that due to the economic downturn and facing the worst employment crisis in history, they may have inevitably chosen to continue their studies.
According to employment and further education statistics of Fudan University graduates reported by local media, the employment rate of last year’s graduates was the lowest in the past five years. The actual employment rate of graduates from this university was 19.5% in 2019, 23.1% in 2020, 25% in 2021, and 21.4% in 2022, remaining in the 20% range for four consecutive years.
The situation was similar at other prestigious universities. Among last year’s graduates of Tsinghua University, China’s top university, only 491, or 15.2%, found jobs through employment or entrepreneurship, while 80.8% chose to continue their studies or study abroad. At Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, 1,318 students were employed, recording an actual employment rate of 22.2%, and 66.4% pursued further education or studied abroad.
A crowd gathered at a job fair held on April 11 last year in Chongqing, a major city in western China. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]
Meanwhile, due to slow economic recovery and a prolonged real estate slump, China’s youth unemployment rate reached 21.3% in June last year. Since then, authorities have not disclosed the youth unemployment rate.
Regarding this, a research team led by Professor Jang Dandan of Peking University estimated in July last year that the number of young people combining the "Tangping" (?平) group and the "Kangaroo" generation, who depend on their parents for living, reached 16 million. The Tangping group refers to people who are physically and mentally exhausted and make no effort.
As the job search difficulties intensified, the term "full-time children" (全職兒女) also became popular. "Full-time children" refers to young people who, like full-time housewives, do household chores such as cooking and cleaning for their parents in exchange for receiving an allowance from them. They are distinguished from the Kangaroo generation, who unilaterally depend on their parents, as some even sign formal labor contracts.
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