International Journal of Research Studies in Education
CollabWritive Special Issue
Volume 13 Issue 10
Available Online: 30 July 2024
Author/s:
Zhang, Xuejiao
Graduate School, Lyceum of the Philippines University – Batangas, Philippines (804404410@qq.com)
Abstract:
China’s education system prioritizes the employment quality of college graduates, as the gross enrollment rate increased from 45.7% to 59.6% between 2018 and 2022. This has resulted in a dire employment scenario for graduates, who frequently pass up prime work possibilities owing to poor career planning and a lack of practical skills. Universities and academics are incorporating more employment information into talent training to assist graduates in adjusting to society and laying a solid basis for future professional advancement. The purpose of this study was to determine employment outlook, skills, and competitiveness among Chinese university students in order to propose an enhanced student career development program. Specifically, it sought to describe the profile of the respondents in terms of sex, year level, school type and major; determined the respondents’ employment outlook as to industry demand, employment concept, and vocational goals; explored the respondents’ employment skills in terms of basic skills, thinking skills and competency; identified the respondent’s employment competitiveness in terms of practical experience, teamwork ability and skill level; tested the differences in responses when grouped according to profile variables; tested the significant relationships between employment outlook, skills, and competitiveness; and proposed an enhanced student career development program. Participants in this study were 425 out of 22,636 junior year and senior year undergraduate students from 8 different majors in 8 colleges and universities in Shanxi Province, China. The researcher used purposeful sampling because the participants belonged to a specific category, namely, undergraduate students in their third and fourth years with prior employment experience to participate in this study. Majority of the respondents were male, senior year, major in law, and from urban area. Chinese university students generally agreed in employment outlook in areas of group demand, employment concept and vocational goals. They generally agreed in employment skills in areas of basic skills, thinking skills, and competency. And also they agreed in employment competitiveness in areas of employment competitiveness, teamwork ability and skill level. There was no significant differences when variables of the study were compared according to profile. However, there was a significant relationship among the three variables which indicates that the better is the employment outlook, the better is the employment skills, and the better is the employment competitiveness, the better is the employment outlook. The student development plan was designed to address the least responses from the employment outlook, employment skills and employment competitiveness.
Keywords: skills, vocational goal, competence, university students
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2024.24715
Cite this article:
Zhang, X. (2024). Employment outlook, skills, and competitiveness among Chinese university students. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 13(10), 171-184. https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2024.24715