But as graduation day draws nearer, Sun is coming to realize that despite his degree and his work experience, job offers are going to be hard to come by and starting a career now seems not to be as smooth sailing as he had expected.

Sun started his job search as early as six months ago - a full year before graduation - and has distributed 40 resumes.

"Although most of them have been responded to, I haven't got a final offer," Sun said.

While he still retains an optimistic frame of mind, Sun said he has to endure the pressure stemming from today's severe employment situation. "Due to the enlargement of college student enrollments, it becomes more and more difficult to get a job. After all, the growth of job vacancies is far less than the growth of graduate student numbers," Sun said.

Enlargement policy

When Sun was admitted to his university in 1999, China had begun to implement the enrollment enlargement policy in colleges and universities. The aim of the new policy was to satisfy a demand for higher education and to improve the skill and education levels of China's human resources within a short time.

In the three years since the new policy came into force, the total number of students in colleges and universities has risen from 6.43 million in 1998 to 12.14 million in 2001. The enlargement policy doubled China's higher education student population in three years and set China on its way to popularizing higher education.

Starting in the 1960s, it took Britain, France and other industrial countries at least 10 years to transform their higher education systems from elite to popular.

The transformation really is a miracle in China's education history but the downside is that when students graduate in June 2003, they will find themselves face to face with a crisis in employment.

More than 2 million graduate students - a 31-per cent increase on last year's numbers - will be competing for a limited number of job vacancies.

Employment today

"Ten years ago, we only had 2,000 graduate students. Today the number has grown to 6,000. The market demand for graduate students has not grown in line with the enrollment enlargement policy," said Liu Jianxin, the deputy director of the Careers Centre of Shanghai's Jiaotong University.

The latest online investigation by www.tongji.com.cn, showed that 84 per cent of students surveyed (3,526 students) were not optimistic about the current employment situation, 13 per cent (536 students) said they were full of confidence and 3 per cent (122 students) had no opinion.

"Popularizing higher education among common people was a social advance but the imbalance between supply and demand has worsened China's employment position," Lu Zu'er from the Careers Centre of Shanghai's Science and Technology University said. "It is one of the main factors affecting graduate students who now are finding it is not easy to find a job. Also, the sluggish global economy has had some negative effects on today's employment situation."

"Another cause of employment pressure is that I am from Liaoning Province." Sun said, "After four years' study in Shanghai, I don't want to give up any chance of staying here to work."

A recent policy change issued by the Ministry of Education seems to give students like Sun Chaochen a gleam of hope. It stipulated that graduate students, who didn't find jobs after they graduated, could prolong their employment term to two years. This applies from July 1 of every year that students graduate. The new policy relaxed the formerly strict registered permanent residence policy in China. Previously, the personal files and registered permanent residence of graduate students would be transferred back to their places of origin if they couldn't find jobs and have their permanent residence confirmed after they graduated. But now: "Graduate students can submit their applications and ask universities to keep their files and registered permanent residence for two years," said Liu.

As a result, more and more students are choosing to delay their date of employment when faced with this year's gloomy employment outlook.

These students fall mainly into three categories, Lu said. Some are acutely worried by the perceived lack of job prospects open to them so they decide to take post-graduate examinations or prepare for study abroad.

"These students believe they will have more chances and will easily get well-paid jobs after they get their Master's degree," Liu said, adding: "The qualification will be more important when applying for a job."

Students who fail the post-graduate examination would have to face a second employment term which would put them in direct competition for jobs with students who will be graduating next year - a vicious circle.

Li Jun, director of the Careers Centre of Fudan University, said: "To some extent, delaying the employment term is also a good thing for students, because they have more time to find jobs, but for universities, it will cause some management and administration problems.

Opinion of experts

When asked whether the enlargement policy had led directly to the apparent worsening employment situation for graduates, Li said: "It did have some influence on the employment prospects of graduate students. But if these students had not gone to universities, the employment problem faced by society as a whole would not have been any easier.

"At present, one of the crucial tasks for Liu and other experienced teachers in Jiaotong University is to give students a clear idea of this year's employment situation and persuade them not to risk missing any opportunities. Students who get their job offers earlier, will take it for granted that maybe more opportunities are waiting for them in the future."

Liu said, some students even changed their minds and gave up chances to work they had received.

Lu suggested that students should make a detailed analysis about social demand when deciding whether or not to take a post-graduate examination.

"A correct self-evaluation is necessary, including personal specialities and abilities," he said.

Both Liu and Lu held that colleges and universities should develop and adjust their teaching systems to fit in with the marketable talents of various students.

And, Liu added: "Good predictions about the employment situation would also be helpful."

(Shanghai Star January 17, 2003)