In recent days, since September, many areas in Mainland China have seen the emergence of skills enhancement classes or technician classes for college graduates, with even undergraduate and master’s students appearing among the participants. The phenomenon of undergraduate students returning to technical schools in droves to learn new skills has raised concerns.
In late August to September, as the autumn semester begins in Chinese universities, cities like Hefei, Wuxi, and Shandong have successively opened technician classes targeted at college graduates. According to a report by Finance and Economics on September 14th, many places also officially started university student technician classes, welcoming a group of college graduates who are eager to learn new skills.
On September 11th, the first college student skills enhancement class at Anhui Hefei Technician College began with the first batch of 15 students undergoing two years of training focusing on skills such as numerical control processing and intelligent manufacturing. The students include graduates from undergraduate and vocational programs, with a majority being from liberal arts backgrounds.
On September 8th, the inaugural session of the High-Skilled Talents Class for College Students at Wuxi Technician College in Jiangsu Province commenced, with 36 students from 35 universities across the country, including 13 with undergraduate degrees. They will undergo a two-year training program starting from apprenticeship to learn various skills.
On September 6th, more than 3,800 new students enrolled at Shandong Chemical Technician College, including 320 university graduates, with undergraduates accounting for 60.6%, vocational college graduates for 38.8%, and master’s students for 0.6%.
Since 2019, the college has offered order classes for college graduates who are unemployed, attracting a total of 1,424 vocational college, undergraduate, and master’s students.
Associate Professor Ding Changfa from the Department of Economics at Xiamen University analyzed that the increasing trend of college graduates returning to technical schools to learn new skills indicates a significant gap between the professional settings, talent cultivation content, and training models of many universities and the market demand.
A survey by the China Association of Vocational and Technical Education on 105 technical schools showed that from 2023 to 2025, the number of institutions offering training programs for college graduates increased from 26 to 45, a growth of 73.08%, with enrolment rising from 1,821 to 2,462. Among them, the number of institutions offering undergraduate enrollment increased from 16 to 28, with the number of undergraduate enrollments rising from 401 to 570.
In June 2026, the blogger “Insight” highlighted several cases of college graduates returning to learn new skills, such as an environmental design graduate who struggled to find employment in his field and ended up working long hours as a warehouse manager. To make ends meet, he eventually enrolled in a technical school to study multimedia production. Another economics graduate gave up a position in a state-owned enterprise and turned to study industrial robotics as a technician, citing the complexities and office politics he encountered in his previous job as the catalyst for his career change.
“Insight” pointed out that through these young people with bachelor’s degrees now working in workshops, one can discern complex signals that challenge conventional realities.
One signal being exposed is the mismatch and gap between the “supply side” of vocational education and the actual demand. While it may seem pragmatic for college graduates to return to technical schools to learn hands-on skills, the reality often falls short of the rosy picture painted in the enrollment brochures. Many undergraduate students with high expectations find it hard to adapt to the curriculum in the so-called “university student technician classes”.
For example, the male student who switched from environmental design to multimedia production found out that the class did not meet the expectations, forcing him to take classes with middle school graduates starting from basic levels. The slow pace and superficial content of the classes, tailored to accommodate diverse academic backgrounds, turned out to be far from the elite skill training he had anticipated, resulting in a diluted learning experience.
Moreover, there’s a stark contrast in the employment promises made by technical schools. Many schools lure students in with promises of “order classes” or guaranteed entry into state-owned enterprises, only to offer basic labor or service positions that are far from the lucrative technical roles advertised. Some graduates who returned to learn new skills bitterly complained about the exaggerated promises of job security made by the schools, with even cleaning positions being considered as job placements.
The article pointed out that this signal reveals the inadequate readiness of the current vocational education system in dealing with the return of high-education graduates.
These cases raise a more pressing question: If college graduates have already completed their undergraduate education, is spending an additional two years learning new skills a guarantee for better job opportunities in the end?
Currently, the available public data mainly focuses on enrollment and training scales, while further systematic tracking on the actual employment rates, salaries, and quality of positions for the post-training “returning” graduates is still lacking.