Graduate employment in China : social stratification in an era of massified higher education

Abstract

Higher education participation in China has expanded at an historically unprecedented pace and scale. This process of “massification” has widened opportunities for young people to gain skills and qualifications to meet the needs of China’s rapidly developing economy. However, a degree provides a less stable career pathway than in the past, and an increasing number of graduates are experiencing unemployment, under-employment, and low salaries. In a competitive environment, a growing body of quantitative research has identified social stratification in graduate labour markets. Importantly, socio-economic status can be a decisive factor in graduate employment outcomes after controlling for university attended, university major, and other factors. These findings may appear puzzling as higher education is widely considered the “great equaliser” of life chances. Looking for answers, this research examined the dynamics underlying how social stratification in graduate employment emerges during an era of massification in China. Positional Conflict Theory (e.g. Brown, 2000) provided a framework for an in-depth investigation of the experiences and perceptions of bachelor’s degree students from different socio-economic status backgrounds as they prepared for graduate labour markets. A qualitative-dominant multi-site case study was conducted at a prestigious university and a lower-tier university in a south-eastern metropolitan city. The research consisted of four conceptually aligned phases: (1) exploratory interviews with five students, (2) semi-structured interviews and a background questionnaire with 100 students, (3) semi-structured interviews with five university career centre managers, and (4) a post-graduation survey with student participants. The findings demonstrated how students commonly perceived higher education participation as a means to “social betterment” and increasingly crucial for career prospects in modern China. Nonetheless, cultural resources (e.g. advice and guidance), economic resources (e.g. financial support), and social resources (e.g. personal connections) of their families could have an overriding influence in the accumulation of positional advantages for post-graduation careers. First, family resources shaped opportunities to access qualitatively distinctive types of higher education associated with positional advantages in graduate employment. This involved educational support for attaining high gaokao scores coupled with informed advice and guidance for admission to prestigious universities. Second, family resources shaped the accumulation of positional advantages at both case universities through engagement with the “economy of experience”. Notable examples included governance of prestigious student associations, study abroad programmes at globally leading universities, and internships with “big name” employers. Third, family resources shaped access to informed career advice and guidance, capacity to bide time in preparing for careers and/or to afford master’s degree programmes, and availability of personal connections for job information and/or influence over hiring decisions. The post-graduation survey supplemented interview findings by uncovering social stratification in employment in “typical” graduate jobs and participation in master’s degree programmes. The research significance is twofold. On the one hand, the findings illuminate the dynamics of social stratification in China’s massified higher education system. On the other hand, the findings offer foundations for policy recommendations to develop a more well-rounded higher education system, while also improving support for disadvantaged students in university admissions, during degree programmes, and in transitions to labour markets.