In April, the 2024 postgraduate entrance examination gradually came to an end, and the candidates who passed the preliminary examination and the re-examination were "happy and worried". According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education, the number of applicants for the 2024 national master's examination is 4.38 million. Among them, junior college students have also become one of the main test preparation groups - they have received little attention, they are highly motivated, and they are looking forward to passing this exam to stand on another level.
From stepping into vocational colleges and universities to entering the society, junior college students have crossed one threshold after another, and have worked hard to complete the transformation of life stages. Further education, employment, finance, renting, etc., have become important choices.
The possibilities are endless: rewriting the trajectory of your life from further education
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education, the number of ordinary college graduates in the country in 2022 will reach 10.76 million, including 4.71 million undergraduate graduates and 5.16 million higher vocational/junior college graduates, more than half.
For the large base of junior college students, "college upgrade" has become the main way to complete the transformation of academic qualifications and reshape the starting point of dreams before graduation. In recent years, the number of applicants and enrollments for college entrance examinations across the country has continued to be hot. According to the data, in 2021, 2022, and 2023, Shanghai will enroll 5,220, 7,427, and 10,006 students respectively, and other provinces and cities across the country are also on the rise.
"The college upgrade exam is of great significance to candidates, and the most direct meaning is to wash away the label of junior college students on their bodies. People magazine summed it up in a related article.
Contrary to the enthusiasm of junior college students, "the suspension of college promotion" has also become a hot topic - before the entrance examination, they learned that the college they applied for the college had stopped recruiting and had to turn their heads to prepare for other schools, which means that the previous review has almost failed for junior college students who are willing to upgrade to a higher education.
In response to the "suspicion of stopping recruitment", the person in charge of enrollment of a university in Jiangsu analyzed in an interview with China Youth Daily that the enrollment of college students is not "recruiting as many as they want", but the competent department according to the number of applicants, the admission rate, the conditions of colleges and universities and other factors, comprehensive calculation, overall planning, and a set of scientific calculation methods. "In the same way that the college entrance examination acceptance rate usually remains at the same level as the previous year or slightly increases, we see that the college entrance examination is expanding, and the most important reason is that the number of applicants is increasing year by year. ”
In the view of Wang Ren, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and vice president of Changshu Institute of Technology, who is responsible for the enrollment of "junior college students", the students who have overcome the difficulties of "college transfer" and become undergraduates have always carried a "hard work": "They have a very strong purpose in learning, a relatively high degree of diligence in learning, and a relatively strong practical ability. The outstanding students in this group are also very good, some of them are admitted to very good schools, and there are also typical entrepreneurial figures of the year. ”
For junior college students who have gone out into society and have at least two years of work experience, the postgraduate examination has become another way for them to rewrite their destiny. On social media, discussions about the "counterattack" of specialists are not uncommon. On the lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, more than 370,000 notes can be searched on the topic of "college entrance examination", and on video platforms such as Douyin, the "college entrance examination" guide and the experience sharing of "college to master's degree" have also attracted a lot of attention.
Picture: On Xiaohongshu, more than 370,000 notes can be searched on the topic of "college entrance examination".
The first lesson of graduation: the employment problems that are not taken seriously
When stepping out of the campus, into the society, and facing the job market, more real and realistic problems unfold in front of junior college students.
In public opinion, society and enterprises seem to pay little attention to the employment status of junior college students. According to the 2023 White Paper on the Competitiveness of China's Higher Vocational Colleges (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") released by Zhaopin.com and a number of institutions, 65.26% of the positions of graduates with different academic qualifications are undergraduates, and only 17.17% are junior colleges. "Traditional colleges and universities have higher gold content", such a traditional concept still occupies the mainstream of society, resulting in the dilemma of college students' difficulty in employment, and is also one of the reasons for the shortage of skilled talents. "The city of Shanghai can accommodate a large number of college students for employment, and the key is to change their concept of labor and employment, and the whole Shanghai must also change its social concept. He Jianhua, former vice president and researcher of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said.
In terms of recruitment positions, it is not easy for junior college students to get a "reliable" employment opportunity. "Majors and occupations may not be compatible" has become the tacit consensus of junior college students, and "sales" may be the biggest career choice for junior college students. On the Internet, there are many inspirational cases of all kinds of junior college students succeeding in the workplace, but for the silent majority, the career choices of junior college students are still very narrow. According to the white paper, in terms of recruitment, the demand for college students is more basic, focusing on sales consultants, customer service, administrative specialists, etc.
Figure: The white paper shows that sales positions are popular in the job competition of Guangdong Light Industry Vocational and Technical College.
According to the "2023 College Student Employability Survey Report" released by Zhaopin, junior college students are more willing to flow into FMCG, Internet, retail/wholesale and other industries. According to Shao Jing, marketing director of Zhaopin's East China region, any enterprise needs talents with various majors and academic qualifications, which is determined by the overall talent echelon structure of the enterprise. "College students have penetrated into all walks of life, but for research-based enterprises with academic qualifications, college students do not have a competitive advantage. Shao Jing said frankly.
Shao Jing believes that the dilemma of "difficulty in finding employment for junior college students" is caused by many reasons such as enterprises, society, and students: the mentality of job hunting is not eager, and they want to continue their studies and studies after graduation, which has caused the phenomenon of slow employment and slow employment, and lengthened the job search front; Therefore, whether it is a junior college student, an undergraduate, or a graduate student, it is still necessary to adjust the mentality for employment. Employment is only the first step towards the workplace, and there is still a long way to go. Shao Jing said.
The future development of vocational education should be more targeted, as it opens up the ambiguous information channel between society and colleges. "At present, the mainland is in the process of industrial transformation and upgrading. It is necessary to connect the 'blue-collar workers' talents needed by the future industry with the reform of the education system, and complete the reform of talent guidance and education system. He Jianhua believes that industrial transformation and upgrading is an important step to expand the demand for jobs and open up the society and junior colleges, "should start with junior college education, so that junior college students are more suitable for the society and keep up with the times." ”
First experience in finance: the demand for consumer credit generated by career and family
Recently, Shuhe Technology released the "Seeing the Micro Knowledge, Insight into Life: An Insight Report on the Lending Behavior of Higher Education Users" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). According to the report, the specialist users of Huanbei APP, a consumer credit platform under Shuhe Technology, generally enter the society earlier than undergraduate users, usually between the ages of 25 and 30 to enter the rapid development period of career and family, and their credit demand is also the most vigorous.
Leaving the campus and stepping out into the society, credit service has become the first experience for junior college students and even graduates who have just entered the society to contact financial institutions. With the development of the Internet and the rise of mobile payment methods, online credit options and portals have become accessible in various life consumption scenarios, which also makes it easier for a new generation of young people who have grown up under the Internet to choose consumer credit. According to the People's Bank of China, the online penetration rate of narrow consumer credit in China has increased from 0.4% in 2014 to 73% in 2022; data from the China Banking Association shows that the number of customers served by consumer finance companies has increased rapidly from 2019 to 2022, from 127 million to 338 million. With the guidance of policies, more and more Chinese residents have increased their awareness and acceptance of borrowing behavior, and consumer credit has ushered in a golden period of development, which in turn has promoted consumption upgrading and formed a positive feedback loop.
In addition to the impact of consumption scenarios, the status of "credit white household" also affects the financial choices of young people who have just entered the society. Most of the newly graduated junior college students are credit white households, that is, they have never borrowed money from financial institutions, and there is no loan record on their personal credit records, so the credit base cannot meet the risk requirements of traditional financial institutions, and it is difficult for them to meet their needs from traditional financial institutions, which also leads to young people being more inclined to choose consumer credit.
"Education is one of the indicators to measure and screen customers, but education is not the most important priority, verification data, black and gray lists, multiple users and other data are more important indicators. Xinye Technology, which is also in the field of consumer credit, also said that financial institutions engaged in consumer credit are open to users with college degrees. By establishing a sound credit evaluation system and multi-dimensional data analysis to assess customers' credit risk and repayment ability, Xinye Technology ensures the controllability of business risks.
In addition, the "Report" released by Shuhe Technology shows that more than 8 percent of users borrow money for "life improvement" and "self-improvement". The reason why college graduates choose credit is more for their personal life, such as decoration, rent, electronic and digital products, education and training, travel and other rigid improvement needs and self-improvement. Among the college graduates, there are also a large number of college students who have become self-employed, and small and micro business owners choose credit for the sake of company operation. Due to their risk appetite, traditional financial institutions are more inclined to provide loan support to small enterprises with large revenues and large flows, while most of the "micro" business owners are enterprises with smaller flows, weaker profits and more assets, which do not meet the risk requirements in traditional credit. It is reported that Huanbei has provided loan matching services for millions of small and micro business owners and industrial and commercial self-employed individuals, with a cumulative transaction volume of more than 40 billion, covering the whole industry of the national economy such as wholesale and retail trade, catering and accommodation industry, leasing and business service industry.
Figure: The report analyzes the distribution of the proportion of users' borrowing purposes.
The portrait of users who have been affected by telecom fraud has also attracted attention in the report. Due to the fact that they are new to school and have fewer opportunities to understand and use financial knowledge in the past, most college students have weak basic financial knowledge, which also gives fraudsters an opportunity to take advantage of it. Some young victims underestimate the methods of wire fraudsters and have a fluke mentality, thinking that they can get back to their roots in the wire fraud bureau, but as a result, they fall deeper and deeper, and eventually become the prey of fraud methods such as rebates and investment and dating.
In dealing with telecommunications fraud, the state has continuously increased the intensity of punishment. Since the "Anti-Telecommunications Network Fraud Law" was officially implemented on December 1, 2022, the country has increased the publicity of anti-fraud knowledge, and relevant departments have cracked down on telecommunications network fraud in a strict and full-chain manner in accordance with the law. In 2023, procuratorial organs across the country will prosecute more than 50,000 people for telecommunications network fraud, an increase of more than 60% year-on-year, help more than 140,000 people commit information network criminal activities, an increase of more than 10% year-on-year, and use telecommunications networks to cover up and conceal criminal proceeds and proceeds of crime more than 75,000 people, an increase of 106.9% year-on-year. "The legal net is restored, negligent but not leaky", telecom fraud in the gray area is exposed under the sunshine of the rule of law, and criminals have nowhere to escape.
As a financial institution, it should also take the initiative to identify and intercept fraudulent users through technical means on the business side, so as to protect users' money bags from the root. Since 2020, based on AI technology, it has developed and iterated its anti-fraud model for identifying potential defrauded users and giving early warnings. Up to now, Huanbei has effectively identified more than 30,000 users who are at risk of being deceived, and has made a total of 130,000 anti-fraud reminder calls, successfully dissuaded nearly 7,000 people from falling into the "wire fraud trap", and prevented the deceived users from losing more than 100 million yuan.
"The joint police have strengthened the anti-fraud propaganda on the user side, enhanced the awareness of credit reporting, and supplemented by a risk control mechanism driven by big data and AI intelligence to identify user needs and match appropriate credit amounts...... Through various means, we believe that we can guide users to form a good consumer credit model. The relevant person in charge of Shuhe Technology said.
Growth is a marathon with no end, a relay race that always has a next finish, and a personal show without opponents. On the runway, the junior college students broke through the predicament, anchored their starting point, and looked into the distance. Under the label of "junior college student" and behind the cold data, the vivid individual life blooms with dazzling brilliance and has become an indispensable color in the beautiful picture drawn by the new generation of China. (ENDS)
Editor: Xu Bing