Deputies Urge College Graduates Down-to-Earth in Job Hunting

By staff reporter Zhang Hua

    The plight of fresh college graduates in the labor market has sparked hot debates at the ongoing NPC and CPPCC sessions. “I saw in TV days ago a Peking University graduate demand a starting salary of RMB 5,000 a month plus Beijing resident status. In my opinion he should eat humble pie in the current economic situation, “ said Ho Iat Seng a NPC deputy from Macao. “When 20 to 30 percent of high school students can enter colleges nowadays, college graduates must understand that they are no longer the elite group.” Mr. Ho revealed that Macao enterprises would do their best to hire more graduates from the mainland, but hoped that these young people would actively get involved in the society to steel themselves. “Many law school graduates fret about few job opportunities in Beijing, but won’t go to western regions of the nation that need plenty of layers and judges.” He continued. “For some students from affluent families, they would rather stay idle at home when they cannot find desired jobs. In this regard, I think the media has an obligation to offer some guidance.”

    Mr. Ho pointed out that the increasing unemployment of college graduates also exposed the flaws of the existing structure of China’s higher education. The 2000-odd universities in China mostly offer similar or same curriculums, and pay insufficient attention to cultivation of technical professionals, who are needed in big numbers by enterprises across the nation. “The school structure in Macao is decided by the demand of the market. We have gaming majors in the university, as we have a gaming industry in the region, which, like hotels, need to be managed by professionals.”

    This opinion was echoed by Luo Weiqi, chief of the Educational Department of Guangdong Government, who is also a NPC deputy. Mr. Luo believed that the financial crisis could trigger off a reshuffle of China’s higher education, prompting it to recalibrate itself in accordance with the current economic structure of the nation.

    “Hong Kong students also face a bleak perspective in the job market,’ declared deputy Wong Yuk-shan, vice president of HK University of Science and Technology. “We have taken many measures to help them. First, we set up some posts in the university’s research institutes that are designed for fresh graduates. Second, we urge the government to initiate some temporary jobs, including career training for jobless college graduates. Third, we opened some new courses, such as market research and market promotion. Besides, we advise our students to keep their expectations lower. There is an old saying in Hong Kong: looking for a horse on the back of a cow. When you cannot get what you look forward to, it is wise to accept the second choice.”