Where does the "postgraduate entrance examination fever" come from
On December 26, candidates went to the test center of Xinjiang Medical University Xinyi Road Campus.
Xinhua News Agency
At 17:00 on December 27, after completing the last professional exam, the candidate Liu Zhengzheng walked out of the examination room and let out a long sigh of relief.
After reviewing for a whole year, he did not enter the review state until the later period. "The review plan was disrupted by the epidemic, experienced collapse and psychological reconstruction, and finally persisted."
On that day, the 2021 national postgraduate admissions examination basically came to an end; the number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination was 3.77 million, a record high; a person infected with new coronary pneumonia successfully took the exam at the Dalian Center for New Coronary Pneumonia Treatment in Liaoning Province.
The news that happened on the postgraduate entrance examination day touched people's hearts, but in the face of the "postgraduate entrance examination fever", what should we pay attention to?
Postgraduate entrance examination is like "the second college entrance examination"
When it was another year for the postgraduate entrance examination, Zhang Lulu recalled how she felt when she took the exam.
Last year, she was admitted to Renmin University of China from a university in Shandong.
Over the past year, Zhang Lulu has heard many talks about her alma mater on different occasions: the preparation for the postgraduate entrance examination is described as "almost crazy": prepare for the freshman year, soak in the study room every day, and there are endorsement students everywhere in the corridors and on the campus. , Even if the weather is cold, don't be lazy.
And Zhang Lulu's experience is completely inconsistent with this: the review only started near the summer vacation, and he was hesitant one month before entering the examination room, and did not even want to review, but in the end she "successfully landed" with the second grade of professional.
Zhang Lulu said with a smile, "I regret" that she didn't have the characteristics of a "postgraduate seminary" student.
A video of the hard-working and hard-working students of the postgraduate entrance examination once occupied the hot search list.
Netizens left messages in two groups. Some netizens ridiculed the "postgraduate entrance examination base" and "postgraduate seminary school".
On the other side, the responses of "no distraction to review the postgraduate entrance examination" and "refusal to label" were tit-for-tat.
"We are no different from other ordinary schools. We usually go to classes normally and have plenty of extracurricular activities. We also hesitate in the choice of postgraduate entrance examinations and job hunting. What's wrong with working hard at this age?" These days, Zhang Lulu saw a few more things. In a news report on "Theological Seminary for Postgraduate Entrance Examination", "I knew it was fabricated at first glance." She pointed to the pictures in the report and told reporters, "This is not our school classroom."
People are accustomed to viewing "postgraduate seminary" as a model of exam-oriented education, with implicit or explicit biases, such as high scores and low energy, simple and crude, and quick success.
Compared with the “outstanding” of some universities in the postgraduate entrance examination field, things are changing.
The reporter's investigation found that "postgraduate seminary" is no longer an evaluation of a certain school. It is in the ranks of ordinary colleges and universities, has a high rate of enrollment in postgraduate entrance examinations, and students are diligent in preparing for exams. Universities with similar characteristics are becoming more common.
The Ranking of Undergraduates' Enrollment Rate in 2019 by Shanghai Science and Technology's ranking targets more than 1,200 undergraduate-level universities in China. The list shows the top 200 schools with the total enrollment rate of undergraduate graduates.
Shandong University of Science and Technology, Shenyang Agricultural University, Binzhou University, Shanghai University of Science and Technology and other universities are among them.
In other words, in relation to the increasing army of postgraduate entrance examinations, "postgraduate entrance examination seminary" will become more and more common.
Upgrading the school level is one of the important factors for postgraduate entrance examination
The postgraduate entrance examination is uncertain, but what is certain is that the competition is gradually fierce.
In the past five years, the number of applicants for postgraduate entrance examinations nationwide has increased rapidly.
In 2017, the number of postgraduate applicants broke the 2 million mark for the first time, reaching 2.01 million.
In 2021, the number of postgraduate applicants reached 3.77 million, and the number of applicants for postgraduate entrance examinations nearly doubled in five years.
China Education Online surveyed and analyzed the motivations of postgraduate entrance examinations in 2021. More than half of the postgraduate entrance examinations are aimed at improving their knowledge and abilities, as well as coping with high employment pressure and improving employment competitiveness; they think the graduate school is not good and want to upgrade the school Level is another important factor.
Internal factors are the leading factors for postgraduate entrance examinations and determine individual choices.
Facing the reality that "double first-class" colleges and universities accept a large number of "double-first-class" college students through the recommended exemption method, ordinary college students want to further their studies, and change their destiny through the postgraduate entrance examination has become one of the must options.
Li Xingdong, a professor at Henan Normal University, said that for them, the postgraduate entrance examination is like "the second college entrance examination", but compared with the college entrance examination, the failure rate of the postgraduate entrance examination is higher.
Postgraduate entrance examination is not easy, and it is even more difficult for graduate students who want to enter prestigious universities.
"The college entrance examination is the most extensive screening and elimination of the education system, and its diversion effect on students is considered by many universities as the most valuable." Associate Professor Luo Yan of Tsinghua University said that universities at the top of the system are reluctant to open up postgraduate places to lower institutions The lower-level colleges and universities are very happy to see that their students can go to the top-level colleges and universities to study for postgraduates, so as to enhance their academic reputation and status.
Another fact that cannot be ignored is that the postgraduate entrance examination can objectively delay the time for some fresh graduates to enter the work position, and to a certain extent alleviate the pressure on social employment.
Higher education should pay attention to the professional development of students
The doctoral student Lu Zhen of Northeast Normal University was the "beneficiary" of the postgraduate entrance examination. She was admitted to a "double first-class" university from an ordinary college and entered a better development platform. Three years later, she successfully admitted to a doctoral candidate.
"The postgraduate entrance examination is not only a process of learning knowledge, but also helps to shape my self-confidence and willpower."
Generally speaking, colleges and universities support and encourage students for postgraduate entrance examinations.
Over time, universities themselves have actually been affected.
"From the perspective of the orientation of talent training and the employment of graduates, there are currently three situations in undergraduate education: employment-oriented, education-oriented and mixed-oriented." Wang Dingming, vice president of Northwest Normal University, gave this judgment: With the popularization of higher education in my country With the development of modernization, more and more undergraduate colleges and universities have developed into higher education-oriented, and their undergraduate teaching tends to be more general education, and a greater proportion of graduates will choose to continue their studies.
In Luo Yan's view, rather than focusing on the connection with the external society, colleges and universities are more concerned about their competition and status enhancement within the higher education system.
Luo Yan said that higher education, as the ultimate export of the entire education system, should pay attention to the professional development of students and help students complete their transition to social status.
In July 2020, the National Graduate Education Conference proposed to stabilize the scale of masters and expand the scale of doctors. In the future, high-level research talents will mainly be doctoral education, and the training of master students will mainly be applied talents, that is, professional masters.
For a period of time, the "postgraduate entrance examination fever" will continue.
For the group choice of nearly 4 million people, personal wishes and the job market will change.
"This means that educated people have more demands for further studies, and the number of undergraduate graduates who are slow to find employment and temporarily unemployed increases accordingly. Career planning guidance for undergraduates needs to be optimized and adjusted." Wang Dingming suggested.
(Some interviewees in this article use aliases)
(Reporter Chen Peng)