(LI SHIGONG)

In November 2011, the Chinese Ministry of Education demanded that colleges to cut classes and reduce recruitment on majors that had post-graduation employment rates lower than 60 percent. These majors could be fazed out altogether over time.

The policy incurred queries from the public. Many said that establishing a link between employment rate and college courses is reasonable because colleges have the responsibility to provide useful human resources to promote social development, but deciding a major's fate based solely on that rate, however, is not. The differences between prestigious universities and common colleges should also be taken into consideration: students at acclaimed schools, no matter the major, will be able to find jobs, while their less-privileged counterparts may have more difficulty in their search for a job. More importantly, if majors with low rates are cut, the humanities and basic sciences, such as mathematics and ocean engineering, could disappear, putting a dent in key scientific research.

A recent study on post-graduate employment by Nankai University in Tianjin Municipality, states that since colleges are not vocational or technical schools, employment rates shouldn't be the only standard determining a colleges' course availability.

Today, the common assumption is that going to college will ensure employment. In the long run, this is only partly true and a fraction of the college experience. Overstressing the employment rate could turn the last year of a student's college life into one of crazed job hunting.

Besides, when more and more people pour into a so-called hot major, such as computer science and engineering or international trade, these hot majors will become saturated with students and gradually, students with these majors may find it increasingly difficult to find a job, because there are too many competitors with the same background.

Proper guidance

Yang Kexin (People's Daily): To solve this problem we need to set some ground rules, the first of which is that colleges are not vocational schools or vocational training agencies. This doesn't mean universities don't have the responsibility to help students find jobs. Universities need to adjust to grow and establish themselves to serve as institutions for the betterment of society.

Colleges and universities should try to promote students' skills to equip them with the experience necessary to succeed in life. Second, colleges should try to motivate and continue to motivate students' interest in their fields of study. This will serve to produce a skilled and creative workforce. Third, colleges should also offer students internship opportunities to refine their skills and hone in on particular fields of interest.

Despite uncertainties in college education, people's understanding of the goal of college education is clear and similar. College education is expected to first, develop students' creativity, second train talents that serve the society, third prepare students for future career and fourth to help students pick up special knowledge.

I always believe that "to educate people" is the soul of a university. When they graduate from school and enter society, students may gradually forget the knowledge they picked up in college, but the ability they develop during school days will support them for the rest of their whole life. Therefore, to improve students' overall ability and stimulate their creativity is the precondition and key for them to find good jobs.

Nearsighted

Xiong Bingqi (People's Daily): Different universities have different targets and tasks. Key universities should aim to train elite students who excel academically and display certain capabilities, while vocational institutes should be the ones focusing on employment. If the employment rate is used as the only measurement to decide a major's fate, then all universities will be treated like vocational institutes. Moreover, more and more students are ending up in jobs that have little or nothing to do with their major, so the employment rate is not an accurate way of measuring a major or courses ability to prepare students.

It's particularly unwise to use this rate to decide the fate of basic science subjects. Instead, since these basic courses and majors are relatively unpopular and in low social demand, the government should increase support to these courses or majors to ensure their continued development. When employment rate is used as only judgment of a major's continuation or dismissal, important subjects will be endangered. Meanwhile universities and colleges might get lost in the blind pursuit of a high employment rate.

Zhao Zhijiang (Chengdu Business Daily): As we know, the so-called unpopular majors or courses are generally basic science subjects, which are the top of ivory tower and also the fertile soil to incubate seekers of further education. However, these subjects are not competitive, so if they are cut because of the low employment rate it will leave universities incomplete in either function or form. If key basic science subjects are canceled for the sake of employment, then universities are no longer universities, but rather your typical vocational schools.

The current employment rate statistics are quite doubtful. Although the reality is that students now face an aggressive job market, most colleges still claim high employment rates for their graduates, some even above 95 percent. However, the fact is, as long as a student's files have been sent to the labor market, even if he or she is not employed yet, the college will classify that student as being employed. In some colleges, those who can't find a job will not get diplomas. In this context, if a college major's fate hinges on the employment rate it ensures, such fudging statistics and illegal practices will inevitably become commonplace.

Zhou Minghua (www.gaokao.eol.cn): Scientific research is a vital mission for universities, and to provide talents to society is another mission of university education. These functions of a university are intertwined and can't be separated. If the link is broken, and the emphasis is on one point, then a university is risking losing its true soul.

If we overstress students' vocational training, universities will change from an incubator of elites into vocational schools. It's unwise to hold a prejudice to certain majors or subjects just because they cannot provide a bright career to students. Some subjects may not ensure students good jobs now, but these trends could change in the future. Some subjects are related to basic science, and are foundation stones for the whole education system and social services, such as mathematics and physics. These subjects should never be subject to the employment rate theory. For these seemingly unprofitable subjects, education departments should do more investigation and tangible work, instead of simply canceling these subjects.

Universities are supposed to be bases for scientific, independent and free thinking and ideas and they have such responsibilities to lead society move forward in a healthy way.

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