Six months before graduation, Li Ping, studying for a medical college in Shandong Province, began job hunting using every possible means.

Besides mailing out his resumes, he also looked for connections and contacts, including his teachers and alumni. Li will not give up any opportunity that may lead to a job offer.

"One of my roommates has a mysterious family background. He has been wearing brandname clothes and using brandname articles. He does not worry about finding a job, since his parents have already made arrangement for him," said Li. "I'm from a rural family, so my parents are unable to find a job for me."

Statistics released by relevant departments of China show that in 2006, graduates from all Chinese colleges and universities numbered 4.13 million, up 750,000 from 2005 with a growth rate of roughly 22%. Hence the employment tension further intensifies. At the same time, various intangible barriers exist in social relations, regional restriction, permanent residency and university's reputation have made the graduates' job-hunting process tougher.

Some analyze that against the backdrop of intensified employment tension for university graduates, needy students from rural and urban areas usually find themselves in relatively inferior positions.

Some graduates told the reporter that in order to get a job, they have to sign some "unfair treaties", promising not to take the postgraduate exam or leave the company within several years, or they have to pay 5,000 Yuan (US$625) for breaching the contract. Some recruiters even declared openly that they only need students from famous universities, so graduates from other schools are not even entitled to apply.

Currently the contradiction in China's higher education has transferred from entering to leaving a university and from the difficulty in enrollment to employment after graduation. It has become a common phenomenon that "graduates become jobless". Should this problem not be tackled rightly, the employment issue would turn into a new factor that causes social instability.