73.1% of the surveyed college students said that some of their classmates chose to postpone their graduation

Due to different life plans and considerations, some college students choose to postpone graduation (hereinafter referred to as "Yanbi"). Recently, a survey of 2001,73 respondents conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily (wenjuan.com) showed that 1.<>% of the interviewed college students said that there were classmates who chose to finish the course. Not completing credits or not completing a dissertation is the number one reason for college students to extend their graduation, followed by the purpose of retaining the status of fresh graduates.

Among the interviewed college students, 17.8% were in the first and second years of undergraduates, 67.7% were in the third and fourth years of undergraduates, 10.2% were non-fresh students with master's and doctoral degrees, and 4.3% were fresh graduates with masters and doctorates.

If the job search is not smooth, 13.6% of the surveyed university students will choose to extend the degree

Zhao Jia, a 2023 undergraduate graduate of Shanghai University, was supposed to graduate in June 2022 and has applied for a one-year extension. "September 6 was my autumn recruitment season, and I also got a satisfactory offer (employment notice) at that time and signed three parties. But during the winter vacation, the company first notified me of the organizational structure adjustment, the original line was cut, to change my position, work content, work city to change, and then directly broke the contract with me in March. Zhao Jia immediately began to participate in the spring recruitment, although he also took offers from several companies in the end, but compared with the previous offer, whether it was the platform, salary and the suitability of the position were much worse, "there was no way to accept this gap in the heart, so I decided to come for another year."

In the survey, 9.9% of the surveyed college students said that there were many students who chose to extend their careers, 63.2% of the surveyed college students said that there were some, 14.5% of the surveyed college students did not have one around them, and 12.3% of the surveyed college students said that they were not clear.

Yang Hui, a full-time graduate counselor at a college at Wuhan University who is engaged in student career guidance, said that students' delayed graduation can be divided into two situations. One is the extension of graduation caused by academic problems, mostly caused by changes in student status within the basic academic system and unqualified graduation theses, which is a "passive" extension. The other is a new trend that has emerged in recent years - out of the need to seek employment, actively apply for "Yanbi" to retain the status of fresh graduates. "Students have no problem with their studies, but refuse to participate in the defense or simply do not submit their graduation thesis, which exists in different universities and has become more and more common in recent years."

He Wenbao, a graduate student at Wuhan University, once suspended his studies for one year at the undergraduate level, "During the university, I was preparing for studying abroad, but due to the epidemic, the exchange program that was originally scheduled could not go, and I wanted to wait, so I applied for a suspension of study when I was in my junior year to senior year, which was like an extension to graduation for me." ”

"On the one hand, the education authorities have become more strict and standardized in the sampling of dissertations, and the quality requirements are getting higher and higher; On the other hand, the employment situation is more serious. Yang Hui said that some students have obvious lack of understanding of changes in the employment environment, and have not been able to update and change their employment and career concepts in time, so in the case of frustration in job search or unsatisfactory offers, they hope to retain the status of fresh graduates by actively applying for a job extension to "fight for another year".

According to the survey, 48.7% of the surveyed university students felt that some students chose to extend their studies because they did not complete credits or did not complete their dissertations.

Zhao Jiayanbi later posted posts on social platforms, one of which reached 10,<>+ views, and many people with similar situations left messages below to warm up. "From the comments, I feel that most of the students who have delayed their graduation are because their papers are not completed or the blind review is not passed. It's just that in recent years, due to the impact of the employment environment and changes in everyone's cognition, the number of people who have postponed graduation in order to seek employment has gradually increased. ”

In the survey, 42.8% of the surveyed college students felt that they chose Yanbi because they wanted to retain their status as fresh graduates.

Yang Hui said that different employers have different understandings of the status of fresh graduates in the career selection period. According to the relevant employment policy, strictly speaking, only the year in which the graduation certificate and degree certificate in the graduate's hand are obtained, which is the "fresh year" of the graduate. At present, some regions propose that "graduates are selected for a career within two years from the date of graduation, and graduates who have not confirmed an employment unit during this period can be regarded as fresh graduates". However, it should be noted that this is only "deemed to be the same", and whether it can be recognized as a "fresh graduate" within two years of graduation, the employer enjoys full autonomy.

Zhao Jia also mentioned that although the national policy is that the status of fresh graduates can be retained for two years, in practice, some positions are still only for fresh graduates who graduated that year.

"Distinguishing 'fresh and non-graduate' by whether or not to pay social security within two years after graduation is itself a backward approach, after all, today's employment is no longer a hammer sale in the planned economy era, and job seekers should be allowed to carry out employment trial and error." On the other hand, some students dare not participate in work or pay social insurance for fear of losing their status as fresh graduates, and stay at home to 'take the public examination', which more or less promotes the situation that graduates actively choose slow employment or no employment. Yang Hui said.

In the survey, other reasons for Yanbi include: wanting to follow their own plans and pace (39.4%), having one more year to prepare for the postgraduate examination (38.5%), not finding a suitable job (37.6%), extending the study time due to exchange, entrepreneurship, etc. (26.2%), and not having enough energy in the graduation season (24.6%).

Zhao Jia also mentioned another problem: a graduate has two tripartite agreements, and only if the first one is lost or it is determined that the previous unit broke the contract, the second copy will be given, "in case there is a problem after signing the tripartite agreement, you can only find a new job, and if you can't find it, you may delay your graduation."

If the job search is not smooth, 39.8% of the surveyed college students will first find employment and then choose a job, 21.5% will enter graduate school/study abroad/take the exam, 13.6% will extend their graduation and maintain the status of fresh graduates, 16.1% will start their own business or self-employment, and 8.3% will be unemployed and slowly find a suitable job.

Yang Hui believes that for the phenomenon of the gradual increase in the proportion of graduates, the school should first strengthen the guidance of ideological education, and secondly, strictly enforce the screening mechanism for graduation, distinguish who can be extended and who cannot be extended, and then strengthen students' career planning education from the time of enrollment, improve employment awareness, and improve the quality of employability.

Yanbi is not an escape from reality

In the survey, for some students in order to alleviate employment pressure choose to extend, 49.5% of the interviewed college students believe that this way can solve the problem, equivalent to one more opportunity, reduce the cost of trial and error, 39.3% of the interviewed college students think that it cannot, just delay time, sooner or later to face, 11.2% of the interviewed college students said it is difficult to say.

"Does a one-year extension and retention of fresh graduates really help job seekers 'land'? Not necessarily! Yang Hui said that as a prospective graduate, you must have a clear perception of the employment environment you are about to face, and the school's employment courses also need to interpret and guide the current employment situation. At least for now, the trend of "record highs" in the number of college graduates will continue in the short term. Although the job pool is expanding dramatically, it is unlikely to expand rapidly. The so-called "fresh graduate dividend" has long been diluted in front of the huge job seeker. "Taking the recruitment of full-time counselors in a leading university in Shanghai as an example, the recruitment plan was fixed at about 20 people in previous years, but according to the university's talent recruitment working group, more than 2022,2000 resumes were received during the recruitment period in <>, which was unimaginable in the past, and the difficulty of competition can be imagined."

Zhao Jia also said that Yanbi is not a way to escape reality, and its requirements for individuals will be higher. First of all, we must have a clearer plan, and secondly, we must make good use of the end of the year.

In this regard, 64.2% of the surveyed college students believe that everyone has a different life trajectory, do not be limited by the "social clock", 50.2% of the surveyed college students think that it is more important to use this time to find their own rhythm, 49.8% of the surveyed college students believe that as long as they do not waste every day, the rhythm can also be rewarded, 35.0% of the surveyed college students believe that there must be a clear plan before making a decision, and cannot blindly follow the trend.

"I was very frustrated when I graduated, my undergraduate classmates had graduated, my good friends had gone to my dream university for graduate school, but I had to insert myself into a strange class to continue my undergraduate studies. I felt sad during that time, but then I adjusted my mood. He Wenbao believes that everyone has their own rhythm of life, "if you feel that this rhythm is suitable for you, you can go down."

Yang Hui said that from the perspective of personal growth, everyone has their own rhythm, which can be moderately slowed down. But from the perspective of career planning, Yanbi should be a very deliberate decision. He believes that for students who are planning to apply for a long job due to employment reasons, the first thing to do is to understand why they have not been able to find their favorite job in the year they should graduate. "Is it a lack of personal ability? Is there not enough education and training in school? Not ready for a job search? Or do you not match your goals and expectations with your strength? He said that if he does not reflect and adjust from himself, he simply pins his hopes for finding a good job on the so-called "identity of fresh graduates", which is "a kind of seeking fish".

China Youth Daily / China Youth Network Reporter Wang Pinzhi Intern Sun Liping Source: China Youth Daily