报告主题
以学术为业抑或以政治为业——博士生考公的动因与机制Why Chinese PhD Graduates Choose to Work in the Government: A Study Based on Motivations and Mechanisms.
摘要：博士毕业生群体作为学术职业的预备役，其多元化就业的趋势逐渐受到学术界关注。近年来，大批中国博士生选择在毕业后进入政府部门工作。但国内外针对政府部门就业的博士毕业生的数据和研究都非常匮乏。本文基于质的研究方法收集了30名中国高水平大学博士生选择前往政府部门求职过程的访谈资料。研究结果表明，博士生进入政府部门工作的动机主要有政治前途、职业安全和职业价值三种类型。以追求政治前途为动机的博士毕业生具有较强的政治抱负与家国情怀，获得博士学位是发展政治生涯的一条“捷径”，有利于加快晋升速度和获得政治生涯的高起点。以追求职业安全为动机的博士毕业生在就业选择上将工作稳定性视为首要因素，由于中国大学“非升即走”的聘任制改革和新冠疫情影响下的就业市场动荡，博士毕业生选择将进入政府部门工作视为确保职业安全的“避风港”。本文还强调，针对名校博士生的选调生政策有利于政府吸纳知识精英、提升公务员队伍服务能力和社会治理现代化水平，从而获得社会收益。高校鼓励博士生进入公共部门，既实现了高等教育的社会服务职能，亦提升了大学的社会影响力和社会声誉，巩固其精英大学地位。随着博士教育规模扩大和进入政府部门工作的博士生数量增多，博士毕业生如何更好适应中国劳动力市场需求变化，以及如何增强其在政府部门中的就业能力和适应能力，需要国家、高等教育机构和个人的共同意识与合力行动。
关键词：博士毕业生，政府就业，公务员，职业动机
Abstract
Doctoral graduates have long been regarded as future scholars, but their diverse employment trends are attracting the attention of researchers. In recent years, a large number of Chinese doctoral graduates have chosen to work in the government instead of academia after graduation. But related research and available data, both domestic and overseas, on PhD graduates employed in the government are very rare.
In this paper, a qualitative study was conducted to collect interview data on 30 PhD students from elite universities in China who chose to seek employment in the government. Results show that the typical motivations for doctoral students to choose a government job falls into three categories: career prospects, job security and career values. PhD graduates motivated by career prospects and career values generally have high political ambitions and strong national sentiment. Obtaining a PhD degree usually means having a higher starting point in the competition for political office and faster promotion, and it is thus regarded as a ‘shortcut’ to developing a political career. PhD graduates motivated by career security consider job stability the primary factor in career choices. As a result of the ‘up or out’ tenure reform in Chinese universities and the turbulent job market under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, PhD graduates are choosing to work in the government as a ‘safe haven’ to secure their employment. This paper also emphasises that the Chinese government introduced the ‘selected graduate’ policy for doctoral students from prestigious universities in the hope of recruiting intellectual elites to benefit from the improvement in quality of civil servants and modernisation of social governance. Universities encourage PhD graduates to enter the government, hoping that this would enhance their social influence and reputation, thereby safeguarding their status as elite universities. From an institutional perspective, doctoral students becoming civil servants can be said to be a cooperation between the government and universities.
The scale of doctoral education is expanding and the number of doctoral students entering the government sector is expected to increase in the future. In this context, how doctoral graduates can better adapt to the changing needs of China’s labour market and how to improve their employability and adaptability in the government sector are issues that need to be addressed jointly by the state, higher education institutions and individuals.
Keywords
PhD graduates, Government employment, Job search motivation
主讲人简介
尹月
清华大学教育学博士，中山大学马克思主义学院助理教授。研究方向为高等教育学、研究生教育、德育。
