Nearly 2.9 million sit China’s 2019 postgrad entrance exam today

The number of candidates sitting China’s national postgraduate entrance exam this year has reached a record high. This morning a total of 2.9 million hopeful postgrads are beginning the 2-3 days of tests that will play a lead role in determining whether they’ll get the chance to go on to further study next year.

The number of candidates sitting the exam increased by 520,000 compared with last year, which is a rise of 21 percent. This is the largest increase in nearly a decade, and makes this year’s exam the one with the largest number of participants since China’s reform and opening up began 40 years ago.

In recent years, the number of candidates enrolling in the exam has continuously increased. According to the “National Postgraduate Enrollment Survey Report” released by China Education Online on Thursday, the annual growth rate of postgraduate enrollment has remained at about 4 percent since 2007. However, the number of applicants has surged, passing the two million mark after the start of the entrance exam for part-time postgraduate students in 2017. In 2018, the number rose to 2.38 million, which is a 18.4 percent increase – 370,000 more candidates than the previous year.

The report shows that fierce employment market competition is the primary motivation for people to pursue a Master’s degree, followed by a willingness to study more to improve their academic research skills.

The increase in the number of candidates has grown alongside an expansion in enrollments of graduate students by universities. Although enrollment quotas have expanded, it has not kept pace with the growth in the number of potential candidates. And competition has become especially strong for the limited number of places in the country’s most prestigious schools.