The ¡°shaming¡± of a medical school graduate for becoming an ice cream seller instead of having a career more in keeping with her degree has exposed deep flaws in how Chinese universities define graduate success, according to academics.

Li, a medical imaging graduate from Zhongshan College of Dalian Medical University, claimed she was harassed by faculty at her alma mater after a video of her ice cream stall ¨C set up in her hometown of?Hechi, Guangxi ¨C garnered more than 5 million views online.

While she initially took the video down after a teacher warned it could damage the school¡¯s reputation, Li later reposted it in frustration, writing: ¡°If you think I¡¯m defaming you, sue me.¡±

The university denied telling her to remove the video, saying it ¡°respects all jobs¡±, but also accused Li of spreading ¡°untrue¡± information, according to reports.

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This statement only intensified the public debate over graduate employment in China that the episode sparked.

¡°This reflects a broader crisis,¡± said?Yannan?Cao, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

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¡°Chinese universities bear social expectations and policy mandates for graduate employment that far exceed their actual capacity. Their heightened concern over graduate career choices is hardly surprising ¨C this often directly affects government funding and student enrolment.¡±

Cao said China¡¯s higher education expansion ¨C from under 10 per cent gross enrolment in 1998 to over 60 per cent in 2023 ¨C has outpaced the job market, while public expectations remain rooted in an outdated ideal of university graduates as guaranteed success stories.

¡°The public still struggles to accept underemployment in an era of mass higher education,¡± she added.

Pawe??Charasz, assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said the real issue isn¡¯t what jobs graduates choose, but whether they have the freedom and skills to make meaningful choices.

¡°Universities should be concerned about the career outcomes of their graduates. However, it¡¯s not the specific career choices students make, but the range of opportunities available to them that matters most,¡± he said.

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¡°To me, a non-traditional career pursued out of passion and interest may very well reflect educational success.¡±

Charasz, who teaches political science, emphasised the importance of transferable skills amid rapid technological change.

¡°In the age of AI, we must prepare students for a future where some of today¡¯s careers may no longer exist.¡±

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Hongqing?Yang, managing director of consultancy company The Educationist Limited, said elite universities in China have long been complicit in reinforcing narrow career expectations.

¡°There was a similar case about 20 years ago ¨C known as the ¡®Peking University Butcher¡¯. With the support of his alumni network, he later became a billionaire,¡± he said.

¡°Despite the emergence of new professions, universities ¨C particularly elite ones ¨C have not allocated sufficient resources to support diverse or non-traditional career choices. This is partly due to cultural expectations and partly because such universities still prefer graduates to pursue prestigious careers in order to safeguard their reputations.¡±

Yang said China¡¯s current policy push toward vocational education and graduate employability could help relieve some of the pressure, but warned of a growing ¡°tension between institutional habitus and a younger generation increasingly seeking personal freedom and alternative lifestyles¡±.

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tash.mosheim@timeshigehreducation.com