China is expecting an unprecedented 11.56 million higher education graduates this summer.
In January we read over 500 articles on education in China and it’s no surprise that employment and employability dominated the news.
Jeopardy and strategy
The pressure felt by students and the government is clear. For students, delaying going into the job market has become an increasingly favoured strategy. 4.47 million students took the national postgraduate entrance exam last December and an estimated 640,000 are going abroad for a master’s this year.
Central and local governments have ramped up job fairs and employment campaigns this winter to help as many students secure a job before graduation as possible; how much this is working, and how much of it is about optics, is still uncertain.
Structural challenge
While the government is forcing universities to create assistant jobs, and encouraging state-owned enterprises to run graduate work-placement programmes, improve unemployment numbers, and give students valuable experience, if the economy is sluggish, employers won’t be hiring.
And for many in the education sector, both in China and other countries around the world, the challenges are structural. As university entry has become more and more competitive, the focus on high-stakes exams dominates student and parent approaches to education. But exams aren’t preparation for the world of work. And running the occasional workshop or termly talk with an employer isn’t going to move the dial.
All research shows the same thing: employability needs to be embedded.
Embedding employability
Our upcoming TeachBetter series taps right into the heart of employability, where expert speakers share best global practices and how teachers can embed them. With practical ideas that can be adopted in the classroom.
The first session ‘Contextualising Employability in Education: Connecting the student learning journey to the future world of work’ will go live at 5 PM tomorrow. Scan the QR to join for free!
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About Venture Education
Venture Education empowers international education exchange in China through research, family education, industry events and professional development. We also support international schools with overseas admissions and entrepreneurship and employability education.
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