Jobless China Faces Grad Glut

By Nathan Deuel,  Newser User
Posted Apr 28, 2009 10:53 AM CDT

In recent years, the sight of an unemployed college graduate in China was as rare as a panda. But up to one third of last year's 5.6 million college graduates remain jobless, the Wall Street Journal reports. After years of the country's mostly state-run universities upping enrollment by as much as 30% annually—and expanding their campuses using the anticipated boost in tuition money—the education bubble has burst.

And in an effort to pay off staggering debt, these schools aren't just turning out too many students, they're graduating poorly qualified ones. "There is a misalignment between the university system and the needs of the economy," says the head of an NYU program in China. "Chinese graduates often have few practical skills." To make matters worse, this year's crop of graduates numbers 6.1 million. (More China stories.)

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