Adhering to and Applying a Systemic Perspective to Promote High-Quality Employment

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [1]1 The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in November 2012, marked the beginning of Xi Jinping’s leadership and the launch of the New Era., General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of adhering to systemic thinking, consistently regarding systemic thinking as the guiding method for developing various undertakings of the Party and the state. The “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization” [2]2 This refers to the decision adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC in July 2024, which set the agenda for further comprehensive reforms. proposes to “improve the mechanism for promoting high-quality and full employment” and “perfect the employment support system for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, and demobilized military personnel.”

党的十八大以来，习近平总书记多次强调坚持系统思维的重要性，一直把系统思维作为发展党和国家各项事业的指导方法。《中共中央关于进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的决定》提出，“健全高质量充分就业促进机制”，“完善高校毕业生、农民工、退役军人等重点群体就业支持体系”。

High-level planning of top-level design. As an important task for universities to cultivate builders and successors of socialism, employment work undertakes the important mission of guiding graduates to establish a correct employment outlook, encouraging university students to make career choices around the overall national development situation, and advancing in the same direction as national development. It is a complex systemic task. Universities should adhere to a systemic perspective, apply systemic methods, implement the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people [3]3 “Fostering virtue and nurturing people” (立德树人) is a core educational policy emphasized by Xi Jinping, integrating moral cultivation with talent development., and comprehensively plan employment education and high-quality employment. The employment work of university graduates concerns national strategic needs and people’s livelihood needs. It is a systemic project that embodies the political attribute, people’s attribute, and strategic attribute of education. Its various components occupy an unbalanced position in the development of the system, and some elements may have a significant or even decisive impact on the system. Therefore, employment work must firmly establish a broad employment outlook [4]4 “Broad employment outlook” (大就业观) is a concept that treats employment as a systemic issue connected to multiple social and economic factors., strengthen top-level design, and analyze, coordinate, and plan all aspects in connection. Academic disciplines and majors, as the basic platform for talent cultivation, play a fundamental and pioneering role and are the core pillar for constructing a high-quality autonomous talent cultivation system. Universities should focus on “cultivating talent and meeting social needs,” take national strategic needs as the driving force, adhere to “effective anticipation” and “effective matching,” actively arrange emerging disciplines and majors, disciplines and majors in urgent shortage, and improve the responsiveness and supply-demand compatibility of discipline and major settings with high-quality development. They should take the quality of discipline and major construction and the employment status of graduates as important bases for resource allocation, benefit evaluation, and optimization of discipline and major settings. They should systematically incorporate the elements of employment education into the talent cultivation plan, comprehensively improve university students’ professional literacy, innovative thinking, and employment ability, and build a high-quality system for employment education and employment services.

高位谋划顶层设计。就业工作作为高校培养社会主义建设者和接班人的重要工作，承担着引导毕业生树立正确就业观、激励大学生围绕国家发展大局进行职业选择、与国家发展同向同行的重要使命，是一项复杂的系统工作。高校应坚持系统观念，运用系统方法，落实立德树人根本任务，统筹谋划就业育人与高质量就业。高校毕业生就业工作事关国家战略需求和民生需求，是一项体现教育政治属性、人民属性、战略属性的系统工程，其各个组成部分在系统发展中的地位是不平衡的，有的要素会对系统产生重大影响甚至决定性作用。因此，就业工作必须牢固树立大就业观，强化顶层设计，把各方面联系起来分析、统筹和谋划。学科专业作为人才培养的基础平台，具有基础性、先导性作用，是构建高质量人才自主培养体系的核心支柱。高校要聚焦“培养人才和满足社会需要”，以国家战略需求为牵引，坚持“有效超前”和“有效匹配”，主动布局新兴学科专业、急需紧缺学科专业，提高学科专业设置对高质量发展的响应度、供需适配度。将学科专业建设质量、毕业生就业状况作为资源配置、效益评价、学科专业优化设置的重要依据。将就业育人要素体系化纳入人才培养方案，全面提升高校学生专业素养、创新思维和就业能力，构建高质量就业育人与就业服务体系。

Constructing a grand ideological and political education pattern for employment education [5]5 “Grand ideological and political education pattern” (大思政格局) refers to a comprehensive approach extending ideological and political education across all courses and activities.. Employment education is not only an important strategy for achieving high-quality and full employment of university graduates, but also an inherent requirement for implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people, profoundly affecting the scale and quality of university student employment. Universities should comprehensively incorporate employment education and employment guidance into the ideological and political education system for university students, realizing the organic combination of the value-leading role of ideological and political education with the practical orientation of employment guidance. While cultivating students’ employability, they should guide students through ideological and political education to establish a positive and correct outlook on success, career, and employment [6]6 “Outlook on success, career, and employment” (成才观、职业观、就业观) are three interrelated guiding concepts for student development., so that they fully consider national development strategies and social needs in their employment choices. They should strengthen the cultivation of teachers’ ideological and political education capabilities, improve teachers’ understanding and application ability of the “grand ideological and political education” concept, guide professional teachers to deeply explore the ideological and political elements in professional courses during teaching, and organically combine them with relevant content of employment guidance, forming a joint force for employment education work.

构建就业育人大思政格局。就业育人不仅是实现高校毕业生高质量充分就业的重要策略，也是落实立德树人根本任务的内在要求，深刻影响着大学生就业规模和质量。高校要将就业教育、就业引导全面纳入大学生思想政治教育体系，实现思政教育的价值引领作用与就业指导的实际导向有机结合。在培养学生就业能力的同时，通过思政教育引导学生树立积极正确的成才观、职业观和就业观，使他们在就业选择中充分考虑国家发展战略和社会需求。要强化教师思政教育能力培养，提高教师对“大思政”理念的理解和运用能力，指导专业教师在授课过程中深入挖掘专业课程中的思政元素，并与就业指导相关内容有机结合，形成就业育人工作合力。

Constructing a scientific employment curriculum system. The construction of the employment curriculum system, as an important support for the development and innovation of employment work, plays a fundamental role in university employment work. As the most basic unit of education, the curriculum system can systematically integrate core competencies with curriculum content and teaching practice, providing students with a comprehensive development path. Universities should organically integrate career planning and employment education into professional course teaching, guiding students to establish a correct view of career choice and employment, realize professional value in ordinary work positions, and make self-growth resonate with the grand blueprint of strengthening the country [7]7 “Resonate with the grand blueprint of strengthening the country” (同频共振、强国宏图) is a four-character idiom and political phrase meaning to synchronize personal growth with national rejuvenation.. Employment curriculum construction should target the characteristics of disciplines and majors, combine local economic and social development and locational needs, carry out curriculum teaching, scientific research, and practical activities with the core of improving graduates’ employability, and coordinate employment internships with teaching internships and social practice. They should continuously improve the actual effectiveness of employment curriculum education and build a systematic group of high-quality, excellent employment courses.

构建科学的就业课程体系。就业课程体系建设作为就业工作发展创新的重要支撑，在高校就业工作中起到基础性作用。课程作为最基本的育人单元，其体系建构可系统地将核心素养与课程内容、教学实践相融合，为学生提供全面发展路径。高校应将职业生涯规划、就业教育有机融入专业课程教学之中，引导学生树立正确的择业观、就业观，在平凡的工作岗位上实现职业价值，让自我成长与强国宏图同频共振。就业课程建设需针对学科专业特色，结合地方经济社会发展及区位需求，以提高毕业生就业能力为核心开展课程教学、科研与实践活动，统筹开展就业实习与教学实习、社会实践。要持续提高就业课程育人实效，打造成体系的高质量精品就业课程群。

Constructing a high-level employment guidance teaching team. To do a good job in the employment of university graduates, attention should be paid to transforming the advantages of teaching staff into high-quality employment guidance results. Universities need to establish a team of employment guidance teachers that is high-quality, professional, and innovative, with full-time teachers as the main body, part-time teachers from inside and outside the school as supplements, and all faculty and staff participating, meeting the requirements of the New Era [8]8 The New Era (新时代) refers to the period of Chinese development under Xi Jinping’s leadership, beginning. Since the jobs university graduates take after graduation are often highly related to their majors, it is necessary to encourage discipline and major teachers and industry experts to form “dual mentors” [9] to integrate and carry out education and teaching, design the first, second, and third classroom teaching in an integrated manner [10], and promote teachers to integrate academic research results and practical experience into classroom teaching, consolidating students’ innovation and entrepreneurship literacy. Universities can take measures such as selecting “employment guidance masters” and creating “employment guidance master studios” to provide a platform for innovation, entrepreneurship, and employment guidance for teachers with excellent professional ability, outstanding teaching results, and outstanding work performance, promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and employment guidance work at a high level.

构建高水平就业指导师资团队。做好高校毕业生就业工作，注重将师资优势转化为高质量就业指导成效。高校需建立一支以专职专任教师为主体、校内外兼职教师为辅助、所有教职工参与的适应新时代要求的高素质、专业化、创新型就业指导教师队伍。高校学生毕业后从事的工作多与所学专业有高相关性，由此，需鼓励学科专业教师和行业专家组成“双导师”融合开展教育教学，一体化设计第一、第二、第三课堂教学，推动教师将学术研究成果和实践经验融入课堂教学，夯实学生创新创业素养。高校可通过选树“就业指导名师”、创建“就业指导名师工作室”等措施，为业务能力优秀、教学成果突出、工作实绩优异的教师，提供创新创业与就业指导平台，高水平推进创新创业与就业指导工作。

Constructing a clearly oriented employment reward system. Rewards stimulate people’s internal motivation and encourage them to take action towards desired goals. Full-time employment guidance personnel in universities should extensively collect talent supply and demand information from industries and regions, guiding graduates to serve regional economic and social development. Give full play to the exemplary and leading role of competitions, promote teaching through competitions, promote learning through competitions [11], deeply integrate competition activities with curriculum content and practical training, and plan and carry out employment guidance activities and innovation competitions in light of actual conditions. Encourage teachers to lead students to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship competitions and practices, select and promote typical cases of teachers guiding students in innovation and entrepreneurship, and typical cases of student employment and entrepreneurship, and reward graduates who actively devote themselves to key areas, key industries, urban and rural grassroots, and small and medium-sized enterprises for employment and entrepreneurship.

构建导向明确的就业奖励体系。奖励通过激发人的内在动机，激励人朝着期望的目标采取行动。高校专职就业指导人员要广泛收集行业、区域人才供求信息，引导毕业生服务区域经济社会发展。充分发挥赛事示范引领作用，以赛促教、以赛促学，将赛事活动与课程内容、实践训练深度融合，结合实际策划开展就业指导活动和创新大赛。鼓励教师带领学生参与创新创业赛事与实践，选树教师指导学生开展创新创业典型、学生就业创业典型，对积极投身重点领域、重点行业、城乡基层和中小微企业就业创业毕业生进行奖励。

Constructing a warm targeted assistance system. Building a comprehensive employment assistance system is one of the key measures for university graduate employment. Warm targeted assistance should not only satisfy policy publicity and skill guidance for job seeking and employment, but also provide early care and follow-up guidance based on students’ actual conditions. The contents of entrance education, professional education, and employment situation education in the first year of university [12] should focus on awakening students’ career awareness; in the second and third years, through professional knowledge learning, career ability cultivation, and accumulation of practical experience, help students to prepare for their future careers; in the fourth year, continuously monitor students’ employment and career development dynamics, accurately grasp students’ employment intentions, get a clear picture of the baseline, and increase the intensity of employment guidance. Provide targeted guidance services through alumni meetings, visits to key units, etc. Establish work ledgers for employment assistance for key groups, grasp the employment situation, and do a good job in precise job matching and employability enhancement. Pay attention to the growth, success, employment, and entrepreneurship of key groups. For students with “slow employment” [13] or not employed, proactively communicate and provide front-loaded guidance. For employment information, employment guidance personnel should not act as “mouthpieces” or “relayers” [14], but should fully understand, analyze and sort out, target efforts, and promptly give students “ideas” and “decisions.” Government departments should improve the mechanisms and measures of the employment assistance system, strengthen the construction of public employment service capacity and level, guide graduates to establish a sense of family and country, encourage returning to hometown for employment and entrepreneurship, and improve the quality and efficiency of graduate employment assistance work.

构建温情的重点帮扶体系。构建全方位就业帮扶体系，是高校毕业生就业关键举措之一。温情的重点帮扶，不仅应满足求职就业政策宣讲、技巧指导，更应根据学生实际提早关心、跟踪指导。大一阶段的入学教育、专业教育、就业形势教育等内容，要注重唤醒学生职业意识；大二、大三阶段，通过专业知识学习、职业能力培养以及实践经验积累等方式，帮助学生为未来职业生涯做好储备；大四阶段持续关注学生就业和职业发展动态，准确把握学生就业意愿，摸清底数，加大就业指导力度。通过校友交流会、走访重点单位等形式，提供有针对性的指导服务。建立重点群体就业帮扶工作台账，掌握就业状况，做好岗位精准推送和就业能力提升。重视重点群体成长成才与就业创业，对于“慢就业”或不就业的学生要主动沟通，靠前指导。对于就业信息，就业指导人员不当“传话筒”“二传手”，而是要充分了解、分析梳理、有的放矢，及时给学生“出点子”“拿主意”。政府部门要完善就业帮扶体系机制与举措，加强公共就业服务能力和水平建设，引导毕业生树立家国情怀，鼓励回乡就业、返乡创业，提高毕业生就业帮扶工作质效。

Constructing a complete employment system. Emphasizing institutional construction is an important understanding and conclusion reached by our Party through summing up long-term historical experience. Constructing a complete employment system is crucial for promoting employment work with high quality. The Ministry of Education has proposed to promote all localities and universities to abandon a single evaluation orientation, prompting university employment work to move towards institutionalization and standardization. In recent years, universities in various regions have fully implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, placing employment work at the core position of the “top leader” project [15]. The evaluation of graduate employment work has focused more on the employment rate, but this does not sufficiently reflect dimensions such as student employment quality, career development, and the match between jobs and majors. Therefore, on the basis of considering quantitative employment data, it is necessary to incorporate the long-term career development status of graduates one year or even three to five years after graduation into the evaluation scope of graduate employment quality and employment services, constructing a more diversified and scientific graduate employment system.

构建完善的就业制度体系。重视制度建设，是我们党总结长期历史经验得出的重要认识和结论，构建完善的就业制度体系对于高质量推进就业工作至关重要。教育部提出推动各地和高校摒弃单一评价导向，促使高校就业工作迈向制度化、规范化。近年来，各地高校全面贯彻党中央、国务院的决策部署，将就业工作置于“一把手”工程的核心地位，毕业生就业工作评价更多侧重就业率，但在学生就业质量、职业发展以及就业岗位与专业匹配度等维度体现不够。因此，需在观照就业量化数据基础上，把毕业生毕业后一年乃至三到五年的长期职业发展状况纳入毕业生就业质量和就业服务考评范畴，构建更为多元、科学的毕业生就业制度体系。

In summary, the employment work of university graduates, as an important part of universities’ cultivation of socialist builders and successors, is a complex systemic task. It is necessary to integrate systemic concepts, overall perspective, and holistic perspective into the employment work system. Closely centering on the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing people, grasp the needs of economic and social development and the future trend, examine the working principles and connection methods of various elements of university employment work, grasp the interrelationships within the employment work system, coordinately handle the relationship between employment education and high-quality employment, promote the integrated development within the university employment work system, advance the implementation and detailed execution of various tasks of employment work, and continuously provide high-quality talent for Chinese-path modernization.

总之，高校毕业生就业工作作为高校培养社会主义建设者和接班人的重要一环，是一项复杂的系统工作，必须将系统理念、全局观念、整体观念融入就业工作体系之中。紧紧围绕立德树人根本任务，把握经济社会发展需求和未来大势，审视高校就业工作各要素的工作原理和联结方式，把握就业工作体系内部之间的关联性，统筹处理好就业育人与高质量就业关系，促进高校就业工作体系内部之间融合性发展，推进就业工作各项任务落实落细，为中国式现代化源源不断提供高质量人才。

(The author is Vice President of Inner Mongolia Normal University)

（作者系内蒙古师范大学副校长）

Online Editor: Hui Hui

网络编辑：慧慧