Source: Guangming Daily
On December 26, candidates walked into the examination center of Xinjiang Medical University Xinyi Road Campus. Xinhua News Agency
At 17:00 on December 27, after completing the last professional course exam, candidate Liu Zhengzheng walked out of the examination room and breathed a long sigh of relief. After reviewing for a whole year, it was not until the later stage that it entered the review state, "the review plan was disrupted by the epidemic, experienced collapse and psychological reconstruction, and finally persevered."
On the same day, the 2021 National Master's Degree Admissions Examination basically came to an end; the number of applicants for the examination was 3.77 million, a record high; and a person infected with new crown pneumonia successfully took the test in the Dalian Center for centralized treatment of new crown pneumonia in Liaoning Province.
These news that occurred on the day of the examination and research touched people's hearts, but in the face of the "examination fever", what should we pay attention to?
Graduate school is like "the second college entrance examination"
When it was another year of graduate school, Zhang Lulu recalled her mood when she took the exam. Last year, she was admitted to Chinese University from a university in Shandong.
This year, Zhang Lulu has heard many discussions about her alma mater on different occasions: the preparation for the examination is described as "almost crazy": the freshman year began to prepare, soaking in the study room every day, and the students who endorsed books can be seen everywhere in the corridors and campuses, even if it is cold and not lazy.
Zhang Lulu's experience is completely inconsistent with this: near the summer vacation to start reviewing, a month before entering the examination room is still hesitant, even do not want to review, but finally still with the second professional results "successfully ashore". Zhang Lulu laughed and said that it was "very regrettable" that she did not have the characteristics that students of the "Examination and Research Theological School" should have.
A video of the hard work of graduate students once occupied the hot search list. Netizens' messages are divided into two factions, and some netizens ridicule and satirize them with "examination and research base" and "examination and research theological school". On the other hand, the responses of "reviewing the examination and research without distraction" and "refusing to label" are tit-for-tat.
"We are no different from other regular schools. Usually, classes are normal, and extracurricular activities are abundant. I will also hesitate in my choice of graduate school and job search. What's wrong with working hard at the age of effort? These days, Zhang Lulu has seen several news reports of the "Examination and Research Theological School", "one look will know that it is fabricated", she pointed to the pictures in the report and told reporters, "This look is not our school's classroom."
People are accustomed to seeing the "Examination and Research Theological School" as a typical example of test-oriented education, which has hidden or obvious prejudices, such as high scores and low energy, simple and rude, and quick success.
Compared with some colleges and universities that are "thriving" in the examination and research field, things are changing.
The reporter's investigation found that the "Examination and Research Theological School" is no longer an evaluation of a certain school, ranking in the ranks of ordinary colleges and universities, with a high rate of examination and research, students preparing for the exam diligently, and colleges and universities with similar characteristics are becoming more and more common.
The "2019 Undergraduate Graduates Further Education Rate Ranking" is ranked at more than 1,200 undergraduate-level universities in China, and the list shows the top 200 schools in terms of the total undergraduate graduate study rate. Shandong University of Science and Technology, Shenyang Agricultural University, Binzhou College, ShanghaiTech University and other universities are among them. In other words, in connection with the increasing army of kao-kao-
Upgrading the level of school is one of the important factors in the examination and research
There are uncertainties in the examination and research, but it is certain that the competition is gradually intensifying.
In the past five years, the number of applicants for the national examination and research has increased rapidly. In 2017, the number of graduate applicants exceeded the mark of 2 million for the first time, reaching 2.01 million. In 2021, the number of graduate applicants reached 3.77 million, and the number of applicants for graduate school has nearly doubled in five years.
Through the investigation and analysis of the motivation of the students in 2021, more than half of the candidates study in graduate school are aimed at improving their knowledge level and ability, as well as coping with the pressure of employment and improving employment competitiveness; they believe that the graduation school is not good, and they want to improve the level of school as another important factor.
Internal factors are the dominant factors in the examination and research, which determine the choice of individuals.
In the face of the reality that "double first-class" colleges and universities have accepted a large number of "double first-class" college students through the recommendation of exam exemptions, ordinary college students want to further their studies, and changing their fate through examination and research has become one of the must-have options. Li Xingdong, a professor at Henan Normal University, said that for them, the examination is like the "second college entrance examination", but the failure rate of the examination is higher than that of the college entrance examination.
It is not easy to go to graduate school, and it is even more difficult to enter the graduate school of a prestigious university.
"As the most extensive screening and elimination of the education system, the college entrance examination has the most reference value for students." Luo Yan, an associate professor at Tsinghua University, said that institutions at the top of the system are reluctant to open up graduate school places to lower-level institutions, and institutions at the lower levels are very happy to see their students study for graduate studies in top-level universities to enhance the academic reputation and status of their institutions.
Another fact that cannot be ignored is that the examination and research can objectively delay the entry time of some fresh graduates into the workplace, and alleviate the pressure of social employment to a certain extent.
Higher education should pay attention to the career development of students
Lu Zhen, a doctoral student at Northeast Normal University, is the "beneficiary" of the examination and research institute, she was admitted from an ordinary college to a "double first-class" university, entered a better development platform, and successfully admitted a doctoral student three years later. "Graduate school is not only a process of learning knowledge, but also helps shape my self-confidence and willpower."
Generally speaking, colleges and universities are supportive and encouraging for students to study for graduate school. Over time, colleges and universities themselves have actually been affected.
"From the perspective of talent training target positioning and graduate employment direction, there are three situations in the current undergraduate education: employment-oriented, further education-oriented and mixed-oriented." Wang Dingming, vice president of Northwest Normal University, gave this judgment: With the popularization and development of higher education in China, more and more undergraduate colleges and universities have developed into a further education orientation, and their undergraduate teaching is more inclined to general education, and a larger proportion of graduates will choose to continue their studies.
In Luo Yan's view, rather than paying attention to the connection with the external society, colleges and universities are more concerned about their competition and status improvement in the higher education system. Luo Yan said that higher education, as the ultimate export of the entire education system, should pay attention to the career development of students and help students complete the transformation to social identity.
In July 2020, the National Conference on Postgraduate Education proposed to stabilize the scale of master's degrees and expand the scale of doctoral degrees, and in the future, high-level research talents will mainly focus on doctoral education, and master's student training will be mainly based on application-oriented talents, that is, professional masters.
For some time, the "examination fever" will continue. For the group choice of nearly 4 million people, individual preferences and the job market will change. "This means that the demands of the educated are increasing, the number of undergraduate graduates who are slowly employed and temporarily unemployed has increased accordingly, and the career planning guidance for undergraduate students needs to be optimized and adjusted." Wang Dingming suggested.
(Some of the interviewees in this article use pseudonyms)
(Reporter Chen Peng)