A job fair for college graduates is held at Shanghai International Exhibition Center on June 16. More than 450 companies offered about 10,000 positions at the fair

By Zhao Xinying ( China Daily)

University majors such as animation, law, biology, mathematics, physical education and Englishhave been listed as the “red-card” majors — fields in which supply exceeded demand for employment in 2012, according to a report.

Graduates with these majors were found to have low incomes and a high unemployment rate.These majors made the “red-card” list each year from 2011 to 2013, according to the 2013Chinese College Graduates’ Employment Annual Report released by MyCOS, an educationconsulting and research institute in Beijing.

“Many parents and students taking college entrance exams know little about college majors,and they might be making blind decisions in choosing ‘well-known’ majors from TV serials,” saidWang Boqing, who worked on the report, at a press conference.

“Also, these majors are easily set up, so that almost all Chinese colleges have them and recruita large number of students each year. However, most of the programs are weak in quality,” hesaid.

Wu Zhongjiang, vice-president of Nanjing Institute of Technology, agreed with Wang. “Toomany colleges offer these majors and recruit too many students, but these students usuallycannot meet the high demands of the market after they graduate.

“Another problem is that market demand is changing all the time, but recruitment and studentcultivation lags behind and cannot catch up with the change,” said Wu, who also attended theconference.

“The release of the red-card majors is a warning to parents, students and colleges thatstudents should stop blindly flocking to these majors and colleges should consider betteringtheir programs or changing their curricula altogether,” he added.

Besides “red-card” majors, there are also “green-card” majors, ones for which market demand is increasing and the rate of employment and incomes are correspondingly higher. These include geological engineering, oceanographic engineering, petroleum engineering and mining engineering.