Wide-ranging education

Zhou Yun (Yangcheng Evening News): On the recently released list, it's surprising to see some majors that have become very popular over the last few years alongside some that are totally new. At one time, these majors promised hopeful prospects for employment, enticing students to rush into their degree programs. Now students studying the subjects are instead faced with a grim reality: a future of sparse employment.

It's a pity that universities have not acted to reverse the trend, but instead, keep adding new majors to their rosters, regardless of future prospects. Sometimes, dozens or even hundreds of colleges start offering a new major at the same time. This oversaturation of the market with graduates holding certain degrees leads to difficulty in finding jobs.

At the same time, the quality of education received by students in these majors is quite dubious. In an environment short of everything from teachers to laboratories, it's impossible for students to receive a solid, worthwhile education. Four years of college are hardly able to equip them with sufficient skills to compete and thrive in an already packed job market.

Additionally, most of these degree programs suffering low employment rates are too narrowly designed. Students taking courses in them tend to focus too much on a certain area, and while they might be able to do quite well in this one aspect of the major, it's difficult for them to find work in professions requiring other, wider knowledge.

It's improper for universities to expand recruitment by offering dead-end degrees and misleading students about employment prospects. However, it's also improper to judge a degree track simply by its expected employment rate. Actually, many majors and training programs in universities silently contribute to social progress despite their graduates not enjoying promising career paths. If schools suddenly stopped recruiting students for these degrees just because employment prospects are low, the damage done to society in the long term would be immeasurable.

Rui Yuan (Southern Metropolis Daily): The Ministry of Education's recently released list includes both fashionable and highly admired majors like broadcasting and relatively obscure majors such as public utilities management. Generally speaking, the low employment rate is attributed to universities' inadequate access to employment information, and sometimes, it's because certain professions need only a small number of employees. Also, while some majors look promising in the beginning of a student's college years, the popular spread of these degree programs can lead to fierce competition by the time they graduate.

While universities are expected to do market research, be familiar with market demands and accept the most competitive students, the aim of education is to provide useful human resources to society. So long as there is a societal demand for experts in certain fields, certain majors will always be needed. But as these degree fields are divided into smaller and smaller subsections of "expertise," the oversaturation of certain job areas will continue to be a problem.

Nowadays, employers not only demand professional talents, they need employees that can work skillfully from the day they start onward. This strikes a vivid contrast to the old days, when new workers were trained on the job. College graduates must now major in programs that teach what employers require, as the increasing number of talented grads means that companies no longer need to spend their time or money training new hires. As a result, students and universities have had to take on the burden.

Take broadcasting for example. In the past, universities would train natural talents who would be capable of working across all areas of this major. Currently, in order to better cater to employers' whims, this major has been divided into several smaller areas of expertise and graduates are able to do much less than before. In most cases, there are no basic courses for the major, as teachers and students believe those meanders too far away from the real jobs.

Universities should not be completely driven by today's job market, but should provide a solid academic foundation and professional education to all students. If employment rates hold too much sway over higher education, it will make it even harder for students to get employed after graduation.