Recently, the national postgraduate reexamination in 2022 has been carried out one after another, and the discussion about it has become more and more intense: the score line has been raised again, which makes many candidates shout that the postgraduate entrance examination is becoming more and more "volume", and even known as the "small college entrance examination". Why is postgraduate entrance examination more and more difficult? Under the appearance of fierce competition and rising scores, what are the noteworthy changes and new trends and characteristics of graduate examination? 1. "Postgraduate entrance examination without employment" is the deep consideration behind persistence Xiao Liu, a fresh undergraduate graduate of a university in Northeast China, applied for a master's degree in a famous software college. He didn't cross the score line, but Xiao Liu didn't get depressed for a long time. At present, he is completing his graduation project and has no plan to find a job for the time being. He plans to take the postgraduate entrance examination in World War II. Xiao Liu is not an example. "World War II" and even "three wars" have become the norm for postgraduate entrance examination students. The reporter learned in the interview that the original intention of many students taking the postgraduate entrance examination is to increase their employment competitiveness. But it is strange that some exam preparation students are not eager for employment even if they have good job opportunities, and are prone to "World War II". "A considerable part of the 'World War II' phenomenon occurred in students with better family economic conditions, who did not solve the pressure of food and clothing. There are many reasons behind their persistence in the postgraduate entrance examination, one of which is because some students have no clear life goals and lack career planning." Said Li Yuzhen, a professor at the school of chemistry and Environmental Sciences of Inner Mongolia Normal University. Huang Lei, director of the employment guidance center of China University of Petroleum (Beijing), said: "from the perspective of the motivation of the postgraduate entrance examination, there are indeed many students who love their majors and want to further study and engage in scientific research in the future. However, a considerable number of students have unclear objectives of the postgraduate entrance examination and are not fully prepared to enter the workplace, so they want to suspend their employment through the postgraduate entrance examination." "Take the 2022 graduates as an example. They are the only child after 00, and their family environment is good. At work, I found that some students have no clear concept of whether to choose employment or postgraduate entrance examination and civil service examination, and most of their parents do not expect their children to get employment as soon as possible, but also hope that their children can have a high degree as a guarantee for the future, so they very much support the postgraduate entrance examination." Huang Lei said. Huang Lei found that the superposition of employment pressure and postgraduate entrance examination pressure has pushed up the difficulty of postgraduate entrance examination, but it can not reduce the difficulty of employment in the future. Therefore, Huang Lei reminded: "if you choose to take the postgraduate entrance examination just to avoid work pressure, you must think carefully. After graduation, you may not be able to find a more suitable job than at present. Moreover, if you fail in the postgraduate entrance examination 'World War II', the cost will be very high. On the contrary, if you work directly after graduation and take the postgraduate entrance examination again with several years of work experience, you may have a greater competitive advantage." 2. From pursuing "better self" to pursuing "landing" In the investigation, the reporter found that there was a time when there was a "famous school complex" among the postgraduate entrance examination students. Many undergraduate students who were not "famous schools" were eager to realize their dream of famous schools and prepared hard for the examination of famous schools. In recent years, some students no longer pursue famous universities, but "go ashore" - passing the graduate examination of any university. According to the 2022 National Graduate Enrollment survey report released by China Education online, the growth rate of the number of applicants for "double first-class" colleges and universities is slowing down, while the number of applicants for ordinary colleges and universities has increased significantly. Why is there such a change? From the perspective of employment, is there such a big difference in competitiveness between undergraduate and graduate students in ordinary schools? "Whether from the perspective of employment or education, the cost performance of postgraduate education is relatively high. First, due to the social situation, many large enterprises with strong attraction to students clearly require master's degree, and the vast majority of units that can provide Hukou in big cities such as Beijing also require postgraduate degree. Second, there is room for development. The height of the 'ceiling' of graduates with bachelor's degree after employment is limited, and there is still a gap in job promotion and salary Relatively large. The third is the difficulty of employment. It is relatively easy for postgraduates to find jobs. Taking our university as an example, the employment rate of Postgraduates in 2022 has reached 90% by the year, and the remaining 10% basically have employment notices in hand and are looking for better units. " Huang Lei said. "Among the graduate students I have graduated in recent years, several undergraduate students are also studying in our college. After reading the master's degree, the employment benefits are very good. After graduation, I also go to the county middle school to teach. Graduate students are introduced according to talents, either to give a house or to settle down. If I graduate from the University, I have to take part in the teacher recruitment examination in the county and city. The competition is very fierce, and even if I pass the examination, there is no special treatment." Li Yuzhen said. Social demand is the baton of employment. When high-quality jobs require a master's degree, postgraduate entrance examination has become the choice of most people. At the same time, if more and more people take the postgraduate entrance examination, it also means that there are enough graduate students for high-quality jobs to choose from, then the requirements and standards will continue to improve, forming a rising "postgraduate entrance examination and employment spiral". In this case, in order to strive for an ordinary job opportunity, many people choose a more realistic master's degree rather than a master's degree from a famous school that is more difficult to obtain. "Social development has narrowed the gap between large, medium and small cities. Many students are no longer inclined to wander in big cities, but rather pursue stable and comfortable work and life. If they don't work in big cities, they may not have to take risks to compete for famous schools." Li Yuzhen said. 3. Professional degree graduate education and "two-way rush" between students In 2020, the Ministry of education, the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued the opinions on accelerating the reform and development of graduate education in the new era (hereinafter referred to as the opinions), which made it clear that the scale and structure of graduate education will be optimized, the enrollment scale of graduate students will be steadily expanded, and the professional degree graduate education will be vigorously developed. The development plan for professional degree graduate education (2020-2025) also puts forward: "by 2025, a number of master's and doctoral degree categories will be added, focusing on major national strategies, key fields and major social needs, and the enrollment scale of master's degree graduate students will be expanded to about two-thirds of the total enrollment scale of master's degree graduate students." In terms of policy orientation, the enrollment scale of professional degree postgraduates (usually referred to as "professional degree postgraduates", and academic degree postgraduates referred to as "academic masters") has been expanding; In reality, compared with academic masters, specialized masters are also more popular with students. "The purpose of master's degree is to cultivate scientific research talents. Students often continue to pursue advanced studies and doctoral studies after graduation; while a considerable number of students take the postgraduate entrance examination to increase their employment competitiveness. Master's degree can not only meet the needs of these people, but also get a degree for two years, and it is easier to get started at work." Li Yuzhen said. Behind the "two-way rush" of expanding the enrollment scale of college graduates and students willing to apply for the examination is the demand of economic and social development and the change of connotative development of higher education. Li Jingye, executive vice president of the Graduate School of China University of Petroleum (Beijing), said: "Professional and master education aims at cultivating excellent engineers and reserve talents. Cultivating students' engineering technology innovation and creativity and the ability to solve complex engineering and technical problems is of great significance to the security and development of the national industrial chain. After years of development, the country has preliminarily established a high-level applied professional talent training system. The training of professional degree postgraduates has been generally recognized by the society and employers. Candidates are choosing academic subjects It is also more rational and pragmatic when applying for a position or professional degree, and no longer blindly pursue an academic degree. " Li Jingye believes that the "gold content" of postgraduates with professional degrees will further rise in the future. "With the expansion of enrollment scale, the State encourages colleges and universities and enterprises to jointly undertake the training of professional degree postgraduates, and the deep integration of industry, University and research. The number of candidates for professional degree postgraduates, training quality and social recognition will be further improved." 4. In the next few years, the fever of postgraduate entrance examination may continue to heat up "Affected by multiple factors, the number of people taking the postgraduate entrance examination will continue to grow in the next few years, and the difficulty of taking the postgraduate entrance examination and adjusting will continue to rise. It is suggested that candidates apply rationally in combination with their own situation and do not blindly pursue popular majors." Li Jingye said. The pursuit of "going ashore" has led many students to pursue "good test" in the postgraduate entrance examination, which is similar to the situation in the civil service examination. The fewer the conditions, the more the number of professional candidates, but it has become "bad test". Li Jingye said: "In recent years, due to the influence of employment factors, many candidates blindly pursue popular majors or majors with relatively low preliminary examination threshold, which makes the number of candidates for some economic and management professional degrees surge, and the registration ratio remains high. For example, for full-time accounting professional degrees, from the registration situation, the first volunteer students of most enrollment units in China are very sufficient, and once candidates cannot be admitted by the first volunteer enrollment unit, they will not be accepted There are opportunities for adjustment. " In addition, a survey shows that some colleges and universities stop recruiting full-time students and turn to part-time students, which is a noteworthy change in the graduate enrollment examination in 2022. Li Jingye believes that with the gradual improvement of national policies, supporting policies and measures for part-time masters in employment are gradually being implemented. The Ministry of education pointed out in the notice on doing a good job in the employment and Entrepreneurship of 2021 national ordinary college graduates that graduation institutions, overseas learning experience and learning methods (full-time and part-time) shall not be taken as restrictive conditions in the recruitment announcement and actual operation. Therefore, part-time graduate students will be more recognized by the society and employers. (outlook new era)