MOE holds press conference on graduate employment

Source: www.moe.gov.cn

The Ministry of Education (MOE) held a press conference on September 28, introducing the measures taken and progress made in enhancing employment of the graduate class of 2020. The conference was hosted by the MOE’s spokeswoman Xu Mei. Attendees included Wang Hui, Director-General of the MOE’s Department of College Students Affairs, Huang Xiongbiao, Deputy Director-General of the Education Department of Guangxi Province, You Xuqun, President of Shaanxi Normal University, Yang Xingshi, Deputy General Manager of China Three Gorges Corporation and Yu Hanyu, student life advisor at College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University.

According to Wang Hui, the number of graduates from Chinese colleges reached 8.74 million this year. The Covid-19 pandemic, combined with other factors, has brought unprecedented challenges to the labor market. Against this backdrop, the MOE collaborated with more than 20 competent authorities and put forward a series of support policies, including: 1) expanding graduate and postgraduate enrollment; 2) increasing recruitment in primary-level government bodies and state-owned enterprises; 3) extending military draft to college graduates. The data shows that up to September 1, these support policies helped to create 2.8 million jobs for graduates, up 700,000 compared to last year.

In February this year, the MOE, in collaboration with 9 major employment agencies, launched a website for on-campus recruitment, which attracted 6.69 million users and led to 15.22 million jobs being posted. In March, the MOE launched an online employment contract signing platform for college graduates, enabling 645,000 graduates to e-sign their employment contracts. The MOE also organized 40 graduate jobs fairs, which offered over 5.4 million job opportunities. Since March this year, more than 200,000 virtual job fairs have been held in higher education institutions across the country.

Wang said, in the next step, the MOE would continue to cooperate closely with other competent authorities, providing employment service guidance to local governments and higher education institutions and facilitating the recruitment of graduates to public service instructions.