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Illusion of employment

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-25 08:26

We have heard plenty about college graduates bei jiu ye ("said to be employed.") We have also heard the Ministry of Education vowing to discipline those proven guilty of frauds.

Yet nobody has been investigated for liabilities. Because nobody appeared interested in finding out.

So nationwide, this year, around 70 percent of those fresh from college have reportedly landed a job upon graduation. With a solid 30 percent unable to get employment, we cannot say this is great. But with the economy like this, and the job market witnessing its most severe shrinkage, 70 per cent is way above what we once dared to imagine.

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With rumors of bei jiu ye flying in the air, however, there is a question mark over the truthfulness of a picture that is not very optimistic but decent enough. We had been curious about the collective silence of colleges on the issue, and the ostensible unwillingness of education authorities to act on it. Until news came that education authorities in Hunan are finally launching a probe.

The central province reportedly plans to verify employment data from 32 local institutions of higher learning. The focus of scrutiny is on colleges claiming that 90 per cent or more of their graduates have found employment. Besides checking the school records, investigators will also make inquiries of the graduates and their purported employers in the course of the fact-finding mission.

For the fact that they have been the first in the country to undertake such an investigation, the education authorities deserve our respect. It would otherwise appear strange - that a suspected rampant fraud is being ignored. And, it would leave a damaging impression that our system acquiesces with cheating. Education authorities from across the country, the Ministry of Education included, owe their Hunan colleagues a big "thank you", for their effort to respond to an important public concern.

Bei jiu ye exists. Some schools forced their new graduates to produce fake employment documents so that they can present an attractive picture to both higher authorities and prospective students. Under current policies, colleges and disciplines whose graduates are not popular in the job market have to cut enrollment, and suffer reduction in financial support. That is the last thing colleges want to see. So they cheat. Many an insider has warned that bei jiu ye is not limited to isolated cases, and that we have little idea about the real extent and magnitude of the malpractice.

Doctored employment figures can cause much damage. First and foremost, they are a moral vice that poisons society. Then they mislead policymakers. Last but not the least, they deprive unemployed college graduates of the opportunity to receive specially tailored government aid programs.

For the well being of our college graduates, and the health of higher education, bei jiu ye must not be tolerated.

(China Daily 09/25/2009 page8)