The employment rate for graduates of higher vocational schools in China rose slightly from 2010 to 2012, according to a report released on July 16.

The report, jointly conducted by the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences and educational research company MyCOS Institute, said that the employment rate of vocational graduates increased to 90.4 percent in 2012, just below the 91.5-percent employment rate for college graduates in the same year.

Researchers surveyed about 200,000 graduates of higher vocational schools in the 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland over the past few years.

According to the report, more than 40,000 technical courses were jointly developed by vocational schools and companies, and 1,318 majors were created in higher vocational education. The survey also shows that the incomes of higher vocation school graduates rose 120 percent from 2009 to 2012.