China’s students once attended graduate school in droves. Today, they have other plans
- With the value of postgraduate education diminished by an overcrowded job market, more students are deciding not to pursue further studies
- Civil service, with its relative security and stability, seen as alternative for those who balk at the prospect of master’s or doctorate degrees
Mindy Li doesn’t see much use in more education.
A second-year student at a low-ranking university in eastern China’s Shandong province, Li has spurned the notion of extra years of study at a graduate school after earning her bachelor’s degree, despite her tutor’s repeated prodding.
Majoring in Chinese literature – a subject with scarce corporate job opportunities in normal times, much less in the middle of a sluggish economic recovery – Li has begun to think her only way out is through the civil service.
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“There are so many master’s degree holders today that such a degree is far less valuable than in the past,” she said.
“What’s the point of spending three more years at school when I’ll still have to take the civil service exam in the end?”
Instead of furthering their academic studies, a pursuit that once meant better employment options, many undergraduate students like Li are turning their backs on China’s cutthroat postgraduate admission exam as higher degrees become less cost-effective.
Most now share the same goal – a government job that can ensure stability and security in uncertain times.
