In 2022, the number of applicants for postgraduate entrance examination nationwide reached 4.57 million, maintaining a high growth trend for seven consecutive years. Under the fierce competition, more and more students choose postgraduate entrance examination institutions, and the "industrial chain" of postgraduate entrance examination is becoming more and more complete. While meeting the learning needs of some students, some chaos exposed by it also makes some students fall into inefficient competition, and even brings new problems to college enrollment.
Postgraduate entrance examination counseling has become a "hard demand"
From the "double first-class" colleges and universities in Beijing to the key colleges and universities in Southwest China, and finally to the "double non", "I have been taking the exam for three years, and I feel that it is more difficult every year than the previous year". Song Yi, an examinee who has experienced the "three wars", told banyuetan that although his target colleges and universities are being lowered year by year, it is more difficult to prepare for the exam every year than the previous year.
The rise in the number of applicants has also pushed up the retest scores of many majors. Taking journalism and communication as an example, the national score line (area a) of the postgraduate entrance examination retest reached a record 367 points, 12 points higher than last year. The retest line of new majors in many colleges and universities has crossed 400 points, and the overall reporting ratio is as high as 14:1. In addition, the scores of economics, literature, management, law and other majors increased by more than 10 points.
The number of people taking the postgraduate entrance examination has increased rapidly, and the ratio of enrollment has increased year by year. In 2022, the number of Postgraduates enrolled nationwide will be about 1.1 million, which means that about 3 / 4 of the 4.57 million candidates will fail. "Ashore" has become the biggest wish of many candidates.
More and more people join the army of postgraduate entrance examination, which also allows some people to capture new market signals. "As long as you work hard, you can make money." A person in charge of the postgraduate entrance examination institution believes that at present, the postgraduate entrance examination training market is large and the demand is fine. Institutions of different sizes can find consumer groups. "Compared with discipline counseling, the service of postgraduate entrance examination training is no different, and the industrialization characteristics have been very obvious." The person in charge said.
Postgraduate entrance examination students are taking online classes
According to the white paper 2021 on China's postgraduate entrance examination training industry, the scale of China's postgraduate entrance examination training market has exceeded 11 billion yuan, with an annual growth of more than 30%. Many market institutions predict that the market scale of postgraduate entrance examination industry may exceed 20 billion yuan in 2024.
For some candidates, postgraduate entrance examination training is indeed a "hard demand". According to the statistics of market institutions, about 22% of candidates spent more than 10000 yuan in postgraduate entrance examination training. An examinee told the bianyuetan reporter that the training fee of tens of thousands has become his biggest living expense, "but as long as he can 'go ashore', it's also worth it." A cross examination of different majors also said: "it is very important to find the postgraduate entrance examination institution. I was confused when I was just preparing for the examination. If no one combed the examination site with me, it is difficult for me to understand."
Some mechanisms have "virtual handle type"
"There are so many people taking the postgraduate entrance examination that they dare not sign up for the class." Hu, a junior in a university, said that the "theater effect" is common in the postgraduate entrance examination group. Although the number of students admitted has not changed much, more and more people will participate in the postgraduate entrance examination training, forming a "anxiety transmission".
The market is "barbaric growth". There is information asymmetry between candidates and postgraduate entrance examination institutions. On the one hand, it can help candidates fill in the information blind area. On the other hand, it also leaves a dead corner for some "virtual handle" problems.
According to the national regulations on the administration of postgraduate enrollment issued by the Ministry of education, it is strictly prohibited for internal personnel of enrollment units to hold or participate in examination and enrollment counseling activities. For this reason, colleges and universities generally do not allow teachers and students to participate in postgraduate entrance examination counseling. An institutional teacher said that teachers in training institutions mostly use pseudonyms and rarely disclose personal information.
"From teaching teachers to teaching assistants, almost all of them are part-time, with great mobility." The teacher of a training institution in Beijing revealed that he had no postgraduate entrance examination experience, but he also taught professional courses in the institution. Compared with teaching teachers, other positions are more casual. A person in charge of one's postgraduate entrance examination institution told banyuetan that most of the people in charge of correcting homework are temporarily pulled from the student group. There is almost no threshold for recruitment. "The requirements are very low, and the correction is fast and simple".
"Now the competition between institutions is also very fierce. In order to compete for students, they will even report their problems to each other." A person in charge of one's postgraduate entrance examination institution told banyuetan that some institutions will collect and sort out the private information of graduate tutors in order to attract candidates.
From professional experience to personality characteristics, the tutor "materials" sorted by some institutions will be sold to candidates after unified summary. A graduate tutor said: "in the interview stage, although many candidates have not seen the teacher, they are already very familiar with the interview teacher."
The reporter learned that some institutions claim to have a "human network" within the school. An examinee reported that some institutional teachers said that "the teachers of the school admissions office are also in the live broadcasting room", which makes her feel that this institution is "very reliable". Several respondents said that some institutions, under the banner of "good relationship with schools", would not actually provide useful information.
Develop both quantity and quality, and innovate the enrollment mechanism
Some college teachers believe that the "assembly line" teaching of postgraduate entrance examination institutions has had a certain impact on the selection of students in Colleges and universities. Some college teachers said that when correcting the postgraduate entrance examination papers, they often encounter template and routine answers. "Some test papers have the same answers and can't see the students' own thinking".
"Under the all-round 'armed' of training institutions, the written test scores of candidates are getting higher and higher, but after recruitment, it is found that there is no improvement in professional quality." A university teacher believes that the phenomenon of exam oriented postgraduate examination is becoming more and more serious.
In this regard, many well-known universities have also begun to actively promote the reform of the examination outline, such as adding flexible subjects such as "theme writing" and "Humanistic Foundation" in the examination. In addition, the education departments in Guangdong and Beijing are also promoting the reform of the enrollment system, such as improving the "application assessment" selection mechanism and expanding the proportion of direct doctoral students.
Interviewees pointed out that the upsurge of postgraduate entrance examination continues. While expanding the scale of enrollment, we should pay attention to both quantity and quality, reduce unreasonable forms of competition, and pay attention to the cultivation of professional quality of postgraduates from the entrance examination.
"Under the thinking of 'no one has me' and 'no one has me', many candidates have to join this excessive competition for fear of falling behind." Huang Hongzhen, a professor at Hunan University of science and technology, believes that the postgraduate entrance examination training market urgently needs effective supervision and regulation. Further, to cultivate high-quality talents, we should be vigilant against excessive postgraduate entrance examination industrialization, make "addition" in academic education and "subtraction" in examination competition.
Bianyuetan reporter: Xiong Jiayi Xie Ying editor: Sun Wenhao
Editor in charge: Guo Yanhui
Checked by: Qin Daixin