Statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate that 2.12 million students will graduate this year from universities and other institutions of higher learning across China.

Last year, 1.45 million students graduated and the expected increase of 670,000 graduates or 46 per cent is unprecedentedly large.

The number of graduates in 2002 represented a year-on-year increase of 270,000 or 23 per cent.

The ministry said it expects 919,000 students to get a bachelor's degree this year, nearly 280,000 more than last year.

However, the number of job vacancies does not appear to be increasing to keep pace with the rising number of graduates, said Lin Huiqing, head of the ministry's student department.

She said the ministry will work with other departments to carry out inspections to see whether or not provincial capitals and other cities have abolished limitations on the movement of graduating students, such as limits on the number of students from outside their city that they will let in.

Provincial governments should attach the same importance to the employment of graduating students as they do to the enrolment rate of universities, Lin added.

She called on provinces to set up provincial-level guidance centres for the employment of graduating students and said universities should make the courses they offer meet the demands of social development.

Universities should also put more effort into helping their students find jobs. There should be at least one employment guidance teacher for every 500 students, she said.

Lin said the information system for the employment of graduating students will be improved so that efficient and timely information can be offered to students.

Graduating students are encouraged to look for work in China's western regions, which are less developed than the central and eastern regions, she added.

Of the university students who graduated last year, about 100,000 university students had still not found a job by the end of the year, Lin said.

(China Daily January 23, 2003)