Ph.D. employment in the academic systemof people is on a downward trend
It is generally believed that universities and research institutes are the main destinations for doctoral graduates, but due to the rapid increase in the scale of doctoral training in the past 10 years, the slow growth of the demand for teaching positions in colleges and universities has led to the saturation of the academic labor market, which has gradually increased the difficulty of doctoral graduates to obtain academic careers.
The author's survey of doctoral graduates from colleges and universities directly under the Ministry of Education shows thatOnly 50 percent chose an academic career2%。According to the statistics of Cai Xuejun and Fan Wei, the proportion of doctoral graduates who chose academic careers in 1997 and 2007 was respectively. 3%。
To sum up, the author believes that in the past 20 years, the proportion of doctoral students in China who have been employed in the academic systemIt's been on a downward trend.
For PhD graduates with employment overflow in academia, postdocs are the most important choice for PhD graduates who are interested in academia but cannot directly obtain the desired research university teaching position, so under normal circumstances, with the rapid increase in the number of PhD graduates, the proportion of postdoctoral positions will be higher and higher.
However, the survey of Cai Xuejun and others shows that doctoral graduates of Chinese universitiesThe percentage of postdoctoral positions chosen has been lowUntil 2008, the percentage of PhD graduates choosing postdocs was consistently less than 5%.
Although the proportion of postdoctoral students has increased in recent years, about 11% of doctoral graduates from universities directly under the Ministry of Education in 2018 are pursuing further studies, but there is still a considerable gap compared with the 39% of doctoral graduates in American universities who are pursuing postdoctoral studies in the same period.
Industries and public institutions, etcIt has become an important destination for doctoral graduates to find employment
Industry, government agencies, public institutions or non-profit organizations are also important areas for the employment spillover of doctoral graduates.
In 1997, only 42%, and has maintained a slight increase until 2007, but by 2018, the proportion of doctoral graduates from some universities directly under the Ministry of Education who were employed in the industry climbed sharply to 1939%, with a faster growth rate.
The proportion of doctoral graduates from Chinese universities in employment in various public institutions is very high. In 1997 there was only 16 per cent, but by 2002 it had risen to 116%, and maintain a rapid growth trend, in 2018, the proportion of doctoral graduates from some universities directly under the Ministry of Education working in public institutions was as high as 2066%。
Compared to the employment flow of doctoral students in the United States during the same periodAlthough the proportion of PhD graduates from Chinese universities from academia to industry is lower than that of the United States, it is growing at a faster rate. In terms of employment in non-profit organizations, doctoral graduates from Chinese universities are higher than doctoral graduates from American universities.
The territory of the university and the region in which it is locatedIt is the main choice for the employment of doctoral graduates
Affected by factors such as the place of origin, the initial accumulation of careers, and the proximity of geography, the place of employment of doctoral graduates is expressedVery strong territorial employment characteristics.
The author conducted statistics on all the universities directly under the Ministry of Education that announced employment in the territory, and found that the employment rate of doctoral graduates in the territory reached an average of 5167%。
As can be found from Figure 1, there are 5 universities with a territorial employment rate of more than 60%, mainly concentrated in high-level comprehensive universities in the east and universities with industrial characteristics in Beijing and Shanghai, and Southeast University (73.)85%), Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (7209%), Hefei University of Technology (69%), Shandong University (68.).97%) and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (62%).
There were 11 schools with a territorial employment rate between 50% and 60%, accounting for 35 of the valid statistical sample48%, except for Sichuan University and Xi'an Jiaotong University, which are two universities in the western region, are high-level universities in the eastern region.
There are also 12 schools with a territorial employment rate of 40% and 50%, and the nature of universities in this range is more diverse, including "double first-class" universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Tianjin University and Beijing Normal University, as well as universities with distinctive industry characteristics, such as Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, China University of Geosciences, Huazhong Agricultural University and China Pharmaceutical University.
In contrast, there are only three universities with low territorial employment rates, namely China University of Mining and Technology (Xuzhou), * College and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, all of which have a territorial employment rate of less than 40%.
In addition to territorial preferred, doctoral graduates tend to choose employment in the region where they are studying.
Statistics show that the average proportion of doctoral graduates employed in the region to which they belong is 178%, except for Tianjin University, where the proportion of doctoral graduates in North China is lower than that in East China, the employment ratio of the rest of the universities in the regions to which they belong exceeds that of other regions.
Among them, the proportion of doctoral graduates from universities in North China, East China and Central China who are employed around the territorial provinces is relatively close, basically around 18%.
The proportion of doctoral graduates from universities in the northwest and southwest regions is relatively low, but both exceed 10%, while the proportion of doctoral graduates from Lanzhou University and Chongqing University is close to 14%.
Ph.D. graduate from the central provincesIt tends to flow to eastern provinces and cities
Does the difference in the employment rate of doctoral graduates between different regions and their regions mean that there is an imbalance in the output of students and the inflow of doctoral talents in different regions or provinces?
In order to reveal the reasons behind this, this study selected seven representative universities in eastern and central China, including Shandong University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Southeast University, Central South University, China Pharmaceutical University, Huazhong Agricultural University, and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.
The results showed that Shandong and Henan were the main source of students seven times, Anhui six times, Shanxi, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangsu also three times, and Hebei, Shanghai and Jiangxi each had one time.
In contrast, the distribution of doctoral graduates, which are the main employment destinations, shows different characteristics.
There are 5 universities with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Henan as the main inflow provinces, 4 universities with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong as the main inflow provinces and cities, 2 universities with Shandong, Anhui and Hubei as the main provinces, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangxi with 1 corresponding university as the main destination for employment, while Shanxi and Hebei have not been the main choice for the flow of doctoral graduates from the sample universities.
The comparison between the two shows that the provinces that are the main output times of doctoral graduates are greater than the number of import times, including Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan, basically belong to the central region.
As the main provinces with more input than output, including Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, except for Guangxi, all belong to the eastern region.
In addition, Jiangxi is the only province that is the main exporter of doctoral graduates with the same number of imports. (See Figure 2).
In other words, the central provinces have played the role of the main exporters of talents, while the eastern provinces and cities have become the main destinations for the inflow of doctoral students.
Ph.D. graduates from universities in western provincesPrefer to stay in the territory
The characteristics of doctoral talent flow in the western region are different from those in the central and eastern regions. The author selects Lanzhou University and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics to analyze two universities in western China.
The study found that the doctoral graduates of the two universities did not flow to the central and eastern regions on a large scale, and the western region had a higher attraction to the inflow of doctoral talents.
Taking Lanzhou University in Northwest China as an example, the proportion of doctoral students exported to Lanzhou University from East China, North China and Northeast China is greater than the proportion of returning to the above regions, which means that Lanzhou University provides a good talent saving and conservation function for the social and economic development of the western region.
Similarly, at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, most of the doctoral students exported from other regions except North China stay in Southwest China.
The proportion of talent exported from relatively developed regions such as East China, Central China and South China is greater than that of returning to their respective regions, and the proportion of export and inflow from Northeast China is similar.
In short, in the process of the circulation of doctoral talents, the western region has attracted and retained doctoral graduates from other regions, but has not become a net exporter of talents from other regions.
Trends and Reflections on the Employment Mobility of PhD Graduates
Through data analysis, the authors found that the employment rate of current doctoral graduates has generally maintained a very high employment rate, with the exception of some universities in agriculture and forestry, normal education and central and southern regions, the employment rate is more than 95%.
In terms of employment flow trend, the proportion of doctoral graduates going to academia shows signs of slow decline, and the proportion of going to enterprises and various institutions is the same, and all of them show a high growth rate.
In terms of regional employment flow, there is a gradual decreasing trend and pattern from the territory as the core to the surrounding regions, but in the process of the circulation of doctoral talents, the central part of the country has assumed the role of sending talents to the east and west at the same time, and the east has attracted a large number of doctoral talents from non-regional sources, and the universities in the western region have played a good role in the cultivation and drainage of doctoral talents.
There are several points that need to be paid attention to by the industry around the characteristics of the employment mobility of doctoral graduates.
1.The attractiveness of academic careers in colleges and universities is average, and the phenomenon of academic spillover from the employment of doctoral graduates is increasing.
On the one hand, this reflects the reluctance of doctoral graduates from Chinese universities to stay in the academic community and choose transitional postdoctoral positions and delay their access to teaching positions.
This is corroborated by the author's survey of the intrinsic academic motivation of PhD students in natural sciences in graduate schools, which showed that only 13 percent of the graduate students pursued doctoral degrees because of their hobbies and interests in scientific research95%。
On the other hand, it reflects the lack of attractiveness of the current academic and higher education system for doctoral graduates.
In other words, there is still much to be done in the academic climate, as well as in the management and security of faculty in universities, and if university organizations do not offer competitive conditions in terms of salaries, benefits, promotions and management, it is bound to push more outstanding PhD graduates to corporate and public sector R&D institutions.
2.The quality of training of PhD graduates in non-academic sectors needs to be paid attention to.
If we ignore the problem of excessive employment in the non-academic sector, from the perspective of serving the development of the knowledge economy and improving the management level of public undertakings, it seems that doctoral graduates from universities directly under the Ministry of Education of China have better responded to the needs of the country and social and economic development.
However, the implicit quality issues may be worth our attention.
Relevant studies show that the reason why doctoral graduates in Chinese universities choose to work in enterprises does not rule out the reason that they have weak scientific research ability and passively leave the academic world. This is not necessarily a good thing for improving the scientific and technological research and development capabilities of Chinese enterprises.
Therefore, in the long run, it may be more important to ensure that doctoral graduates have good research ability while advocating for employment in industry or enterprises.
3.Provinces in the central and western regions can formulate targeted talent introduction policies according to the preferences of doctoral graduates around territorial employment.
The employment scope of doctoral graduates in the western region, which is relatively lagging behind in economic development, is concentrated in universities, enterprises and institutions in the western region, which is mainly affected by the demand for academic positions in colleges and universities and the employment preference of students.
Therefore, for provinces and cities in the central region with good higher education strength, such as Hubei Province and Hunan Province, we should focus on optimizing the academic ecological environment of colleges and universities at all levels in the province, improve the treatment conditions of teachers, guide and support local enterprises to increase investment in R&D and innovation, hire high-level doctoral graduates, and attract doctoral students from the territory and surrounding areas.
For the central regions with a net outflow of doctoral talents, such as Shanxi, Henan and Anhui, in addition to improving the academic environment of universities in the province and encouraging enterprises to invest in R&D, it is necessary to make full use of the characteristics of local employment spillover and employment preference of doctoral graduates.
On the one hand, it organizes doctors from outside the province to visit universities, scientific research institutes, enterprises and institutions, and holds special talent lectures and job fairs outside the province on a regular basis to strengthen career ties with doctoral students from other places and attract doctoral graduates to return to their hometowns for employment
On the other hand, we should strengthen the recruitment of doctoral talents from surrounding science and education centers, increase funding, and take the initiative to absorb doctoral talents from regional higher education centers such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Nanjing.