New university majors to focus on job prospects

The high school graduates who completed the university entrance exams 10 days ago, are now faced with solving another question - which university majors offer the best job prospects?

According to MyCOS HR Digital Information Co Ltd, a human resources consulting company in Beijing whose name is short for My China Occupational Skills, this year's majors with the highest job prospects and earning potential are geological engineering, naval architecture and ocean engineering, petroleum engineering, mining engineering and auditing.

Those with the lowest include animation, law, biotechnology, mathematics and applied mathematics, physical education, bioengineering and English.

University entrance examinees had some new options this year, as the Ministry of Education allowed six universities to open seven new majors for undergraduate students and four will recruit students from the coming semester: biomedicine, rehabilitation education, aquatic animal medicine, and ceramic art design.

The universities said that they researched employment prospects before opening the new majors. The biomedicine major, at the medical school of Zhejiang University, is the first for undergraduate students in China, and has been introduced because of the market demand for the joint discipline of biology and medicine.

"Biological medicine is one of the pillar industries in China right now, but there is no professional talent available to enterprises," said Ma Weining, office manager of the school's basic medical sciences institute.

Ma said the graduates majoring in biomedicine will have bright employment prospects and there will be jobs available to them in biological medicine companies, research institutions and colleges.

East China Normal University, meanwhile, is opening a major in rehabilitation education, which will combine special education and rehabilitation science to help children with special needs. It plans to recruit about 25 students in the coming semester.

"Special needs children need teachers who can impart knowledge and also provide rehabilitation training," said Du Xiaoxin, dean of the auditory and language rehabilitation department at the school.

Du said graduates will work in special education schools and children's rehabilitation centers, which lack staff with specialist education and rehabilitation skills.

Majors in aquatic animal medicine are being offered at Shanghai Ocean University. Traditional veterinarian training does not cover aquatic animals.

Very few colleges offer the major globally, but the skills are in increasing demand in China, said Song Zengfu, assistant professor of the university's fisheries and life science college.

China is now the world's largest exporter of aquiculture and aquatic products, but there are no veterinarian specialists to deal with aquatic animals, Song said.

Aquariums, aquatic farms, aquatic pharmaceutical companies and aquatic animal epidemic stations are all potential employers for graduates, Song said.

Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jiangxi province, meanwhile, will resurrect its ceramic art design major, which was changed to art design several years ago, and the major will start to recruit students from this year.

Language majors are also likely to be popular for job seekers, said Yang Xiaojing, deputy director of the Asian and African studies school of Beijing Foreign Studies University.

"The employment of graduates majoring in minority languages, particularly, is always strong," said Yang.

Yang Ziman contributed to this story.