This view is shared by some members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top advisory body.

Over the past few years, the scale of China’s higher education has been expanded steadily, while the prospects of college graduates’ employment have become gloomy.

A survey shows that only 60 percent of university graduates find jobs before graduation.

Shen Shituan, a CPPCC National Committee member, said, “About two million students will graduate from universities and colleges in 2004. Their employment situation is expected to be severe.”

“I think that we should reform the employment system,

personnel system and wage system for college graduates,” he added.

Ding Chuan, another CPPCC National Committee member, said,“We should take a positive approach to solve the problem of college graduates’employment. A major solution lies in encouraging university graduates to pioneer new undertakings on their own.”

He cited the advantages of the solution such as resolving the graduates’ own employment problem, providing jobs for other graduates, helping adjust the industrial structure and training groups of well-educated pioneering people.

But now only a small number of college graduates have pioneered new undertakings on their own, chiefly in high-tech industries and concentrated in big cities, he said.

Some CPPCC National Committee members agreed that in pioneering new undertakings, college graduates should change their concepts, and can exhibit their abilities in different regions and industries.

By doing so, they can spur the development of these regions and industries.

The members also asked commercial banks to formulate measures to extend loans to college students pioneering new undertakings.

(People’s Daily 03/0-9/2001)