Residence system blocks city's open job market

The city's approval system for granting permanent residence to non-locals who graduate from a Shanghai university is discriminatory and blocks the free flow of the job market, according to one university president.

He Qinhua, president of East China University of Politics and Law and a deputy to the Shanghai People's Congress, has proposed changing the system.

He suggested the city government grant a residence card to every migrant graduate who applies to work in the city and then issue permanent residence permits to the best of those graduates after a trial period.

To control the city's population expansion, non-native university graduates who wish to stay in the city are graded based on the university they attended, academic background, foreign language ability and computer skills, as part of a system that went into place in 2004.

Only those who meet the minimum level, which will be announced by the Shanghai Education Commission every spring, are eligible for a Shanghai residence permit.

About 11,000 migrant graduates obtain a residence permit every year, accounting for 25 percent of non-locals who graduate from city universities.

He said graduates from renowned universities aren't necessarily superior to others. Deliberate government intervention has violated the modern free job market, he said.

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