On January 4, on the first page of Liberation Daily, an article “Rise above the Obstacle, Hold the hands Leading to Future--how to reach 95% Graduate Employment Rate” reported on the example of SUES to promote graduate employment, and our school’s “Employers Star Database”, regular visits to employers, information sharing and interaction between school and enterprises, valuable experience and approaches to increasing students’ employment rate.
The report was as follows:
Rise above the Obstacle, Hold the hands Leading to Future--how to reach 95% Graduate Employment Rate
2013 was a difficult year to jobs seeking graduates. After the heated season of “Gold March Silver April”, until May 10, the overall signing rate of Shanghai graduates only was 44.4%.
There were such composition topics “Rise above the Obstacle” and “I Want to Hold Your Hands” in Shanghai College Entrance Examination. When a civil project connected with thousands of households is in the difficult times, employment promotion must get over the obstacle；when 1,780,000 university students of Shanghai from all corners of China want to hold hands for the first time with employers, whose hands should employment promotion hold?
Employment Rate Doubles in the Second Half of the Year
On May 13, a news conference was held in Civil Administration Building, No.100 Da Gu Road, on which the City Education Committee revealed this year’s employment statistics for the first time.
According to the practice, the Education Committee makes two statistics of university employment rate each month. On April 10, and April 25, employment rate respectively fell by 4.07 and 3.17 percentage point than last year and on May 10 employment rate also fell by 2.05 percentage point.
From that day, Shanghai sent specifically employment information to graduates’ mobile phones, including 39,000 postgraduates, 89,000 undergraduates and 50,000 college graduates.
Objectively speaking, “Obstacle” is just there. Affected by the economic downturn, industrial restructuring and other factors, university graduates of 2013, including Shanghai, are facing a stark situation of employment and employment progress is indeed slowing down.
The number of less than half employed graduates is hanging in everyone’s heart. The Municipal Committee, Municipal Government, City Education Committee and relevant departments coordinated together and more than 60 universities were making mutual efforts...
The “answers” to this exam paper of employment are found? Difficult or not? When the year came to the end, Shanghai had a reassuring result.
According to the latest statistics provided by Education Committee, the employment rate of this year’s university graduates equaled 2012, higher than 2009 to 2011 and the overall employment situation is basically stable. In degree level, employment rate of postgraduates is 95.3%, 0.4 percentage point lower than last year; undergraduates 95.4%, 0.1 percentage point lower than last year; college graduates 97.0%, 0.2 percentage point higher than last year. In region flow, not including further education and study abroad, 22.7% graduates find jobs in other regions than Shanghai, 2 percentage point higher than 2012.
From less than 45% to more than 95%, this obstacle was firmly crossed over.
Hold the Hands of Each Enterprise
In Shanghai dozens of thousands of enterprises are the main body of employers, and the biggest demand side of employment market. As far as the relationship between supply and demand is concerned, enterprises not only involve in employment and job position creation, but also in education and talent development.
Obviously, the university should take an active step forward before graduates hold hands with the employer, holding firmly the hands of enterprises and participating in talent development.
The SUES’s “Employer Star Database” reveals background information and employment information of as many as 4903 employers, including 13 five-star plus, 17 five-star, 64 four-star...the database ranks and classifies employers according to student number they employ, frequency of employment at school, quality of cooperation projects of production, study and research. Hence, the school and each college pay regular visits to those star enterprises, so the feedback of employers on school education and employment work may be sent back to the school without delay. Knowing each other and sharing supply and demand information can help increase employment rate of students.
Based on this “Solid relations”, the enterprise can employ right staff and build the first-class production force, why not?
In 2013, Shanghai Electric employed about 1000 graduates, among whom more than 60% came from universities of Shanghai. In order to fill up good students majoring in heat energy, mechanics, electric, material, In the past two years, Shanghai Electric launched joint development with school depending on research projects with many universities, not only making orders for development and internship plans, but also offering students allowances.
For example, cooperation project “Steam Engine New High-Pressure Valve Design Program Study” with Shanghai Jiaotong University has involved the first-class product technology of the industry in the world. The development period of student participants expiring, they will be employed according to the principle of “Double-Direction Choice, Admit Excellent Students”, not only solving the problem of independent knowledge property central technology development, but also shifting employment openings to junior undergraduates and freshmen postgraduates.
The “Obstacle” of big economic environment must be overcome by joining hands. Combing with Shanghai industry transition upgrade, and hoping to create more job positions for university graduates, the city education management departments are planning to launch a series of activities of “joint platform to promote cooperation between enterprise and school, transition upgrade to promote graduates to find jobs” and connect with City National Capital Committee, Commercial Committee, Economic Information Committee, Youth League, FTA Trial Area Management Committee and so on, putting forward a number of special activities like new industry, culture creative industry, software development service outsourcing, biological medical development, enabling enterprise and school to hold hands and recommend talents.
Catch hold of new positions at the fundamental level
Someone said that graduates of 2013 were already “post-90”, “beautiful dream”, but “cruel reality”.Employment difficulty is surely related to too high employment expectation. Not a few graduates had “choice difficulty”,unable to make decisions and afraid of gains and losses.
To cross over this “Obstacle” between ideal and reality, relevant departments and colleges try their best to hold the hands of every graduate, guiding them in setting up employment ideal and helping them to create employment value. At the other end of “Obstacle”, they also try every way to hold the hands of each new fundamental unit and each new position.
Under the support and coordination of city leaders, in 2013 city Education Committee and Civil Service Bureau, together with other six departments, following the pattern of “University Student Village Official Plan”, launched “University Student Community Service Plan”, took the lead in having a try in Putuo District, Hongkou District and Zhabei District and recruited 150 students for the first group. Although the number was not big, an employment gate opened to students finding jobs in community. Through government purchase fundamental public management and social service positions, graduates were provided with some trials and ways of transforming notions and growing up to talents, which meant a great deal to strengthening city community fundamental organization construction and developing professional community staffers. In 2014, Shanghai will further enlarge this trial.
A good student has ambitions everywhere. All the national fundamental employment projects are going on very well in Shanghai--- “Select University Graduates to Work in Villages” has actually recruited 213, “Three Backup and One Support Plan”has actually recruited 275, “University Student Volunteer Service West Plan”has actually recruited 171.
For graduates going to western regions and other places, many universities have offered employment allowance, travel fees, especially letting not any one graduate from the difficult employment group “fall behind”.
University students also can “help themselves and create jobs”. In 2013 more than 600 university graduates took the road of entrepreneurship and encouraged employment. Entrepreneurship is a good atmosphere which can be infectious. Chen Zhou, a student from Electronic Information College of Shanghai Electric Machinery Institute, went to Gui Zhou and chartered 1000 acres of land for planting tea trees and refining edible oil, and he also hired 4 classmates with the same ambitions to join him. Lin Zhichao, from the same college, together with 3 postgraduates from Shanghai Jiaotong University, co-established an IT company with profits of 3 million RMB, and he got RMB 100,000 of Shanghai University Student Scientific Entrepreneurship Foundation,100,000 RMB of China Youth Entrepreneurship International Plan “Seed Fund” and RMB 50,000 of funding from “Entrepreneurship Plantation” of Science Committee.
According to statistics, only in the school level, in 2013 the universities have set up more than RMB60,000,000 of entrepreneurship support fund, providing more than 80 entrepreneurship places and bases. There were more than one entrepreneurship training of various types and practice activities, and more than 100,000 participants. The new year’s employment season has started, difficult or not? There are reasons to believe that more university students will hold hands together, cross over the obstacles one by one and finally hold the hands of success and future.
Editor in charge: Cai Wei