News Plus慢速英语:中国留学生专业选择商科降温 2016年国家公务员招考报名人数减少

You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.
Fewer Chinese students who are going overseas to study are choosing to major in business.
Last year, almost 26 percent of Chinese university students who chose to study abroad majored in business. In 2010, the proportion was 45 percent.
The figures came from an annual report on the development of Chinese students studying abroad, released by the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank in Beijing.
The report found that business is losing its appeal among Chinese students studying in foreign universities.
By comparison, science, technology, engineering and math remained at the top among the student population because of the future employment prospects they offer. Meanwhile, some liberal arts disciplines, including international relations, are favored increasingly by Chinese students studying overseas.
The Center for China and Globalization said the cooling down of business as a major is related to the economic situation in China.
During the past several years, the Chinese economy has been growing at high speed and business talent has been in great demand, which encouraged many Chinese students to choose business when deciding to study abroad.
But now, as people are enjoying fast economic development and many Chinese families are becoming better-off, Chinese students may drop the idea of studying business to pursue material benefits. Instead, they may turn to majors and disciplines that are less materially beneficial but better reflect their own interest, including the liberal arts.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.
The number of candidates for the 2016 national civil service exam has fallen behind last year's application numbers for the same period.
Although a record 27,800 civil service jobs were being offered by central government departments and subsidiaries, the lagging number of applicants pointed towards a further dip in the appeal of civil service jobs.
The number of applicants exceeded 220,000 by the fourth day of this year's application window, compared with 230,000 last year.
The most sought-after post was a position offered by the China Employment Training Technical Instruction Center, which had drawn 890 candidates.
The second most sought-after job was a post offered by the regional earthquake bureau in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which had 450 competitors.
In 2013, the total number of applicants who qualified for the national service exam reached a record 1-and-a-half million. Last year, the number decreased for the first time in five years, to 1.4 million.