In 2024, the scale of college graduates in China is expected to reach 11.79 million, a year-on-year increase of 210,000, more than doubling compared to 2019. The Chinese employment market is rapidly shifting from supply falling short of demand to oversupply, increasing the competitive pressure for graduates seeking jobs. In contrast, the average offer acceptance rate for graduates has significantly declined compared to 2023, and the effectiveness of improving employment success rates through higher education degrees is also diminishing. Higher-educated graduates face a more severe employment situation compared to junior college students. Against the backdrop of continuously rising unemployment rates, focusing on the improvement of skills needed by society and adapting to the ever-changing labor market will become one of the important topics for college students.
Against this backdrop, as in-depth observers and researchers of the learning and growth of Chinese college students, Frost & Sullivan (Frost & Sullivan, abbreviated as 'Frost & Sullivan') hereby releases the '2024 White Paper on the Learning and Growth of Chinese College Students'. It provides an in-depth analysis of the current situation and trends of college students in terms of academic development and interest cultivation from multiple dimensions. We hope that through systematic data analysis and research, we can provide strong guidance and reference for college students to achieve high-quality learning and growth.
In this white paper survey, a questionnaire was used to investigate 2,389 current college students, aiming to comprehensively understand the learning and growth situation of contemporary college students and their evaluations of leading education and training institutions. Chinese college students are most concerned about academic development and interest cultivation in their learning and growth, with academic development as the main line (goal-oriented employment and further education), and interest cultivation as a secondary line (goal-oriented physical and mental health and side jobs). In academic development, systematic academic planning services are the main support for high-quality academic development in the future; in interest cultivation, campus clubs, training teams, off-campus institutions, and self-media are the four main channels for high-quality interest cultivation in the future.
During their university years, students need to pay attention to many aspects of their own learning and growth. Among these, academic development and interest cultivation are two major dimensions that receive significant attention from students.
College students have a wealth of pathways and approaches for learning and growth. According to research, academic development and interest cultivation will be two of the most important aspects. In terms of academic development, it is undoubtedly the top priority for college students to focus on knowledge learning and skill enhancement with the goal of further education or employment. As one of the secondary lines of learning and growth, interest cultivation is an indispensable choice for college students to expand their abilities, improve their qualities, and alleviate anxiety. Academic development and interest cultivation complement each other and promote each other, jointly constituting the main context of college students' growth.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
02 College students have clear demands for high-quality academic development, with high expectations for personalization and systematic approaches, which differ from the traditional 'unified teaching + coursework' model. According to research, college students still cannot achieve high-quality academic development without external support.
Through research, it has been found that college students mainly have four core demands in their academic development: 'goal orientation', 'personalized development', 'systematic learning', and 'one-stop resources'. The survey shows that college students tend to start planning early in their university years, accumulating theoretical knowledge and obtaining relevant qualification certificates in the early stages. In the middle and later stages of their studies, they accumulate practical experience to improve their mastery of knowledge in application, aiming for high-quality development throughout their entire university academic career. However, in reality, college students are usually limited by their cognitive limitations and scarce resources. From feasibility analysis and planning in the early stages to learning practice in the middle stages, to management and follow-up in the later stages, there are many difficulties and challenges.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
03 College student academic planning refers to a series of measures aimed at improving the quality of academic development, including analysis, planning, learning, practice, management, and follow-up. Compared to universities, educational training institutions offer academic planning services that have advantages in terms of faculty capabilities and personalized services.
Academic development and improvement is an important topic faced by college students during their university years. For college students, to promote a comprehensive improvement in academic development quality, they need to involve multiple aspects such as self-analysis, goal setting, learning plan formulation, knowledge acquisition and practical exploration, learning progress management, and effectiveness tracking feedback. This series of measures constitutes the academic planning of college students. The unique advantages of educational training institutions determine their important position in the field of academic planning.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
04 Leading Chinese education and training institutions have gradually made inroads into academic planning, continuously exerting efforts in business positioning, model innovation, technology integration, and school-enterprise cooperation. According to research and analysis, Gaodun Education, New Oriental Education, and Huatu Education rank among the top three in terms of academic planning satisfaction index.
By analyzing the potential of academic planning institutions in response to the demands of college students' academic development, including orientation, personalization, systematicness, and one-stop services, it has been found that the following seven education and training institutions regard college students as one of their main or core business segments. They position their services around comprehensive academic development and actively explore the expansion of personalized service capabilities based on artificial intelligence, providing corresponding service support through learning centers.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
The report uses the College Student Academic Planning Satisfaction Index evaluation system to assess potential institutions for academic planning. It includes four dimensions and thirteen indicators: corporate strength, business coverage, the degree of alignment between college student academic planning and university brands, and brand recognition among college students. According to the analysis, Gaodun, New Oriental, and Huatu Education rank among the top three in terms of academic planning satisfaction index.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
The Academic Planning Satisfaction Index refers to the observable evaluation of the benefits and outcomes achieved by an enterprise in the process of conducting academic planning. It requires a comprehensive analysis that takes into account both the enterprise and consumer perspectives. Among them, Gaodun has the highest comprehensive score.
Specifically, Gaodun ranks second in terms of corporate foundational strength, possessing good development qualifications, honors, and tax credit; it leads in terms of business layout for college students, with a higher number of university collaborations and industry-university collaborative education projects. It has been deeply involved and focused on college student education for a long time; it ranks first in terms of academic planning alignment, having long-term focus on college student business and completing a comprehensive layout from courses, textbooks, competitions, internships, to research studies. Its business orientation and systematic diversity of content are the most prominent among many brands. It ranks second in brand performance and awareness research, with the most comprehensive information disclosure in terms of school-enterprise cooperation. Its brand recognition and service richness rank second among consumer surveys, with over half of respondents being quite familiar with the Gaodun brand.
In 2019, college students made up a significant proportion of consumers in terms of interest cultivation. They have a strong willingness to pay for courses, mostly by investing in their own interest development and improving their interest cultivation models to enhance their overall capabilities.
Surveys show that college students can pay for various channels to cultivate their interests. From an online perspective, students can purchase various paid interest cultivation courses for targeted learning and also buy auxiliary apps to enrich and improve the online cultivation system. Offline-wise, on one hand, students can seek help from professional tutors through payment, and on the other hand, they can cultivate their interests by purchasing professional clothing equipment and renting suitable venue facilities to protect themselves while enhancing their various abilities through practical activities.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
06 In-Depth Insights: In the current severe employment environment, college students have an increasingly strong demand for high-quality learning and growth. This will also be reflected in students' demands for high-quality academic development and interest cultivation in the future.
In terms of college students' job hunting and employment, at present, students face multiple challenges during the job search process. The most prominent issues include a lack of internship experience, poor pre-job skills (skills and techniques during the job search), and unclear career planning. In terms of college students' further education, the ratio of applicants to admitted students for postgraduate entrance examinations and junior college to undergraduate programs in China has shown an upward trend over the past decade, reflecting increasingly fierce competition for further education applications. It is evident that the improvement in the quality of academic development for Chinese college students is urgent. In the future, academic planning and education institutions aimed at providing systematic high-quality academic development solutions may emerge.
In the cultivation of college students' interests, the four main channels for interest development complement each other: campus interest clubs, campus professional training teams, off-campus training institutions, and other software self-media. These are the four cornerstones for high-quality interest cultivation in future college students.
Data source: Analysis by Frost & Sullivan
