How Did You Do On Your Gaokao? What Is Means, What It Does & Why You Need To Care.

For high-school graduates across China, two days in June mark some of the most life-changing moments in their lives. That’s when the gaokao, China’s university entrance exam, takes place. Often dubbed as the most grueling and formidable exam in the world, the gaokao determines which universities its takers are able to attend and can have lifelong consequences on Chinese students, whose higher-education experience, or lack thereof, will affect their job prospects and social mobility.

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The most significant event in China this week was the gaokao — the annual two-day national exam?to qualify for college.?Anxious parents wait while their children go through the nine-hour ordeal. Those with younger kids sift through the test questions —?published once the exams are over —?preparing their offspring?for the inevitable.

Often dubbed as the most grueling and formidable exam in the world, the gaokao determines which universities its takers are able to attend and can have lifelong consequences on Chinese students, whose higher-education experience, or lack thereof, will affect their job prospects and social mobility.

Once through the?gaokao —?which translates as “high-level exam” —?the 18-year-olds are almost guaranteed a university spot. In recent years, the acceptance rate has edged above 80%. A college education has almost become a right, not a privilege.

This year, a record 11.9 million are expected to take the exam. China has roughly 15.9 million 18-year-olds.

?Since its inception in 1952, the gaokao has remained a key component in China’s college admissions process and has been through a series of reforms and encouraging developments. It also provides an insight into China’s higher-education system and the challenges it’s facing.

As a merit-based test, the gaokao found its genesis as early as the Sui dynasty, when the?keju?(科举?kē jǔ), also known as the imperial exam or civil exam, was created by the central government as a relatively corruption-free method to select talented individuals from amongst the commoners.

In 1952, three years after the birth of modern China, the new Communist government established the gaokao, which was designed to be less political than its predecessor. Introduced as a meritocratic route to academic and social advancement, the gaokao was suspended during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), when public education in China came to a complete standstill. In 1977, right after Mao’s death, the gaokao was restored under the charge?of Deng Xiaoping 邓小平, who returned to power as the vice-premier overseeing culture and education.

Since then, the gaokao has experienced rapid development and transformation. The number of colleges and universities across the country has increased considerably, from 88 in 1977 to 2,914 in 2021.

The rise in the overall admission rate means the intensity of competition today is largely confined to China’s highest-ranked universities. These include the “985” universities (a group of 39 first-rate universities of international advanced level) and the “211” universities (comprising 112 universities that play an exemplary role in relation to the country’s advancement in social and economic fields).

?The challenge today is that a record 10.8 million college seniors are expected to graduate this summer, but?China does not have enough jobs for them. As of April, youth unemployment for those aged 16 to 24 was?already 18.2%, due in?part?to Covid lockdowns. By July, the rate could easily exceed 20% once college graduates?enter the workforce. As of April, fewer than half received job offers, according to online recruitment platform Zhaopin Ltd.

?It’s no longer clear a college degree brings financial benefits. According to the same Zhaopin survey, the average starting salary for those who got job offers will be 6,507 yuan per month?($974).?By comparison, a delivery worker could earn as much as 10,000 yuan.

?Employers are also getting choosy. Many jobs now require a postgraduate degree.

?As a result, this labor oversupply?has prompted college seniors to delay their entry into the workforce. At the end of 2021, 4.6 million took the postgraduate entrance exam, an increase of about 21%. Graduate school still carries some weight. Last year, Chinese universities handed out about 8.3 million?bachelor’s degrees; they graduated only?about?773,000 with a masters and above.

None of this makes gaokao any easier, however. The acceptance rate for the so-called Project 985 schools?—?was?1.7% last year.?For Harvard University’s class of 2025, it was 4%.?Rather, it’s the bottom of the pyramid that has expanded. The number of institutions that grant university degrees soared from just around 1,000 in the mid-1990s to above 2,700 in 2021.?

?To President Xi Jinping’s credit, he recognized the detriment of the gaokao frenzy early, denouncing profit-seeking educators in 2018. Last year,?the government cracked down on the lucrative after-school tutoring industry, wiping billions of market capitalization off investor darlings such as New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc and TAL Education Group.

?Beijing felt that it found a solution. In October, the State Council pushed for a second?education track that resembles Germany’s successful “dual training” model, in which students split their time between classrooms at a vocational school and on-the-job training at companies to develop practical skills. Some vocational schools may even grant a bachelor’s degree.

?But not everyone likes this model. The traditional Confucian culture of scholarship is deeply rooted —?one needs to look no further than the character for the word “study,” which contains the strokes for vision, money and power.?In ancient times, only children from wealthy families could afford to take the exam?to become the emperor’s civil servants. During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, universities were closed. So now that China’s middle class is getting richer, wouldn’t every parent want to send their children to college, even if it makes no commercial sense? In China, college education is not an investment; it’s a luxury good.

?Of course, Beijing?could call a stop and drastically reduce college enrollment. But that would result in nothing short of a widespread unhappiness in all levels of society. So year after year, the gaokao kabuki will carry on, creating a labor force increasingly incompatible with what the economy needs.?