BEIJING: Millions appeared for this year’s national postgraduate entrance examination over the weekend, but the number of candidates taking the test has been declining over the past three years, a trend that experts said reflects a more rational and deliberate approach among students toward further education.
The message is clear, the expert said. Today’s students are thinking twice before committing to further studies, instead making choices that are more calculated, calm and self-aware than before.
According to the Ministry of Education, 3.43 million candidates appeared for the examination this year, down from 3.88 million last year and continuing a downward trend since the 2023 peak of 4.74 million.
Experts said the sustained decrease reflects a cooling of what was once a “postgraduate exam fever”, with students becoming more rational and less inclined to follow the crowd.
Wang Shutao, a professor at Xiamen University’s Institute of Education, told China Youth Daily that in the past, students were either swept along by the crowd or sought a master’s degree as a default option. “Now, students are weighing postgraduate studies against other career paths with clearer personal and professional goals in mind.” Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of education website EOL, noted that this is the first significant three-year decline since the start of the century.
“Some of the impulsive applicants have stepped back,” he said, attributing the drop partly to students refraining from blindly following the herd.
Experts said the sustained decrease in the number of examinees is not merely a quantitative change but also an opportunity for structural optimization and quality enhancement in postgraduate education.
Hu Xiangdong, a professor at Central China Normal University’s measurement and evaluation research center, said: “The adjustment over the past three years is not just a fluctuation in numbers. It represents a critical turning point for postgraduate education, transitioning from scale expansion to structural refinement and quality improvement.”
He added that this shift presents an opportunity to better align talent cultivation with societal needs, enhance the value of a postgraduate degree, and strengthen the employability of graduates.
Wang Chuanyi, deputy director of Tsinghua University’s Research Institute for Graduate Education Strategy, said universities are implementing stricter quality control in postgraduate training, with rigorous entry and graduation standards becoming the norm. This has led to some students with weaker academic foundations reconsidering their options, he told China Education Daily. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
