Ministry of Education Offers Loan Waivers to Graduates Who "Go West" To Find Work

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on September 14 that students graduating from about 100 universities run by the central government and who have borrowed from the government to finance their educations may have their loan repayments waived if they agree to work in China's "western or remote areas," according to a September 15 China Daily report. Graduates will be eligible for loan waivers of up to 24,000 yuan (US$2,970) if they work for at least three years in locations at the county-level or below. Five percent of the total number of graduates from these universities will receive waivers each year, but up to 8 percent of graduates may be eligible if they have attended universities that specialize in agriculture, forestry, geology, and "some other majors that usually have a large number of [financially] poor students." According to a September 18 Legal Daily report (in Chinese), a higher number of waivers will also be available for graduates of universities specializing in studies such as petroleum and mineral development, and water conservation and irrigation.

In July 2005, the General Office of the Communist Party Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued an "Opinion on Guiding and Encouraging Graduates of Schools of Higher Learning To Seek Employment in Grassroots Areas," calling for "a large number of trained personnel, especially graduates of schools of higher learning, to go to [grassroots areas, especially the western region] to render meritorious service and make a distinguished career," according to statements officials made at a press conference about the opinion (Xinhua, in OSC 22 July 05). The opinion recommends that the government and Party "[encourage] university students to serve the western region voluntarily," but also advises that "a certain number" of graduates should be recruited every year during the five-year period starting in 2005, according to the Xinhua report.

The "western region" is the area included in the Great Western Development (GWD) program that then-President Jiang Zemin introduced in 1999. The program covers 12 provincial-level areas, including all five of China's ethnic autonomous regions, according to a map available on the Web site of the Office of the Leading Group for Western Region Development of the State Council (click on "Basic Facts About the Western Regions"). Great Western Development aims to accelerate economic development in China's poorer western area and promote the integration of ethnic minorities like Uighurs and Tibetans into the Han-dominated mainstream.

Cui Bangyan, the MOE official responsible for the loan program, said that the policy seeks to "encourage students from key universities, especially those who face difficulty in repaying loans, to work in China's western and remote regions, so that the gap between the city and the countryside can be narrowed," according to the China Daily report. Cui explained that graduates of China’s top universities generally are reluctant to work in western and remote areas and prefer to stay in eastern urban areas, even if the intense competition prevents them from finding jobs. The new policy would "help adjust the existing [im]balance in the job market," Cui said.

An increased flow of well-educated job-seekers into the western region could put local graduates looking for jobs at a disadvantage. For example, Tibetans aged 20-34 attained a university-level education at about one-third the rate of Han Chinese (0.78 percent of Tibetans compared to 2.15 percent of Han), according to official 2000 census information for the entire country. Moreover, there were 572 Han university graduates nationwide in the 20-34 age bracket for each Tibetan graduate (6,666,286 Han compared to 11,656 Tibetans). Uighurs reached university at nearly the same rate as Han (2.05 percent of Uighurs compared to 2.15 percent of Han), according to 2000 census data, but Han graduates in the 20-34 age bracket outnumbered Uighurs by 148-to-1.

Since 2003, the government has implemented a "University Student Volunteers Serve the West Plan" that sends graduates to do service work in the GWD region, according to an August 21 Xinhua report (in Chinese). Over 50,000 graduating students applied to participate in the plan in 2006, according to a May 10 China Youth Daily report (in Chinese). The plan will select 6,500 applicants to maintain the total number of volunteers at about 10,000. A July 19 China Youth Daily report (in Chinese) described participation in the volunteer plan as beneficial for subsequent employment searches within China's intensely competitive job market.

See Section VIII. - "Tibet," Culture, Development, and Demography, of the CECC 2006 Annual Report for more information on the Great Western Development program and related population issues, and Section III(a). - "Special Focus for 2005: China's Minorities and Government Implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law, of the CECC 2005 Annual Report for more information on China's law and policy on ethnic minorities.