(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-08 07:14

Fewer people studying for masters degrees may be good for the restructuring and improvement of quality education, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

In 2007, enrolment applications for masters degrees in China started to drop. This tendency is likely to become more obvious in 2008, and indicates that people's attitudes about masters degrees could be changing.

The number of masters degree students in China increased nearly 20 percent annually between 1998 and 2006. Masters students increased from 230,000 to 1.1 million. The growing number indicated the public's need for higher education, but also indicated that some students were blindly pursuing a masters degree for not entirely the right reasons.

Those who study for masters degrees can be divided into two categories: to engage in further academic studies, and those who want to sharpen their professional edge in the job market. At present, the second type is considered the mainstream.

It seems employers have shifted their attitudes about the value of employing a masters-qualified jobseeker over others.

They have realized that masters degree holders may not work as well as others. This affects the job opportunities for masters degree students.

When the cost in both time and money studying for a masters degree can no longer buy graduates the advantage in the job market, students would naturally abandon it.

So the downward trend can be deemed the result of market leverage, and may be conducive to building quality over quantity in masters degree education.

We do not need to worry about the downward trend since the drop range is still within the normal scope. The downward trend does not mean the degree is not important either. The country should stress more on the quality improvement of masters degrees, and the need to cultivate a batch of innovative talent to meet the needs of social construction.

(China Daily 01/08/2008 page8)