Bachelor’s degrees depreciate, Chinese students rush to graduate exams

According to statistics, 4.57 million students registered to take the Examination – Admissions graduate school in China in 2022. This is up 21% from 2021 and is an all-time record high.

Candidates registered to participate in this year’s Survey are mainly recent graduates.

In light of the fact that the number of graduate training programs has not kept up with the increasing trend of candidates, the enrollment rate this year decreased by 24%.

In the past few decades, the competition in the Survey has become so fierce that some candidates call this exam the “Advanced version of the Gao”. Gao Gao – China’s university entrance exam has long been considered the most fierce university exam in the world.

Experts say that the high pass rate has become higher in recent years, leading to increased competition after graduation. This has led many students to seek higher degrees in the hope of having more advantages in the job market.

However, according to Sixth ToneThe influx of students into graduate school also confronts China with a problem: an over-trained workforce. Accordingly, the educational level of some individuals exceeds the requirements of the companies.

Professor Xiaogang, director of the Center for Applied Economic and Social Research, said that this is a consequence of “degree inflation”, specifically university degree inflation.

This expert also noted that China still maintains the concept that the higher education is, the better. Many people thus earn higher degrees without having a specific goal in mind.

“If this mindset doesn’t change, China’s over-education problem will only get worse“, Mr. Xiaogang assessed.