Country sees surge in postgrad applicants

About 2.38 million Chinese were expected to take the entrance exam for postgraduate studies between Saturday and Monday, up by 370,000 people (18 percent) year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Education.

The surge comes as a record 8.2 million university students are expected to graduate in 2018. Growing competition in the job market is the primary reason, according to a survey report by education website EOL.

Of the applicants, about 1.3 million are preparing to graduate next summer - 180,000 more than last year. The number of graduates who signed up for this year's exam also increased by 190,000 to almost 1.1 million.