University majors such
as animation, law, biology, mathematics,
physical education and English have
been listed as the "red-card" majors —
fields in which supply exceeded demand
for employment in 2012, according to a
report.
Graduates with these
majors were found to have low
incomes and a high unemployment rate.
These majors made the "red-card" list
each year from 2011 to 2013, according
to the 2013 Chinese College Graduates'
Employment Annual Report released by
MyCOS, an education consulting and
research institute in
Beijing.
"Many parents and
students taking college entrance exams
know little about college majors, and
they might be making blind decisions
in choosing 'well-known' majors from
TV serials," said Wang Boqing, who
worked on the report, at a
press conference.
"Also, these
majors are easily set up, so
that almost all Chinese colleges have
them and recruit a large number
of students each year. However, most
of the programs are weak in
quality," he said.
Wu
Zhongjiang, vice-president of Nanjing
Institute of Technology, agreed with
Wang. "Too many colleges offer these
majors and recruit too many students,
but these students usually cannot meet
the high demands of the market
after they graduate.
"Another
problem is that market demand is
changing all the time, but recruitment
and student cultivation lags behind
and cannot catch up with the
change," said Wu, who also attended
the conference.
"The release of
the red-card majors is a warning
to parents, students and colleges that
students should stop blindly flocking
to these majors and colleges should
consider bettering their programs or
changing their curricula altogether," he
added.
Besides "red-card" majors,
there are also "green-card" majors,
ones for which market demand is
increasing and the rate of employment
and incomes are correspondingly higher.
These include geological engineering,
oceanographic engineering, petroleum engineering
and mining engineering.
However,
graduates are reluctant to pursue jobs
in these fields because of the
harsh working conditions.
Under
such circumstances, changing the attitude
of college graduates is really
important, said Hu Ruiwen, the former
president of Shanghai Education Scientific
Research Institute.
"With 10 times
more students, college is no longer
a place to train senior talent
and elites," he said. "Parents and
students should learn to lower their
expectations and find suitable positions
for college graduates."
The
report is based on a questionnaire
of 529,000 2012 college graduates from 972
majors in 31 provinces, autonomous regions
and municipalities on the Chinese
mainland. It is the fifth time
the consulting institute has released
the annual report.
According to
the report, from October to April
the proportion of graduates signing a
contract for a job was 35 percent, 12
percentage points lower than the same
period last year. The contract-signing
process in 2013 is slower than that
of 2012, indicating that the employment
situation for graduates is tougher
this year.
