(File photo)

The latest reports on 2015 employment show that the number of students who choose to work in China's western regions is gradually increasing.

In 2015, the number of new graduates reached some 7.49 million, hitting a record high. 

Among them, 7,677 are from Fudan University, where the employment rate of recent graduates was 98.06 percent. Of those graduates, a total of 158 chose to work in western China, including in Sichuan province, Chongqing municipality, Guizhou province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan province. 

For Peking University, there were 9,317 new graduates in 2015. About 23 percent of Ph.D. students went to regions in the middle, west and northwest of China to seek opportunities. They were mainly working in education, scientific research and technology services. For undergraduates and graduates, only 45.8 percent choose to stay in Beijing – the first time this percentage included less than half of the class. 

Reports also show that manufacturing, financial services and the IT sector are the top three industries favored by students, followed by public service and education. 

Financial services is the most favorable sector, according to graduates from China's top three universities; 26.5 percent of graduates from Peking University, 19.1 percent of graduates from Tsinghua University and 20.92 percent of graduates from Fudan University signed contracts within the financial sector. The first choice of 27.08 percent of graduates from Shanghai’s Jiaotong University was manufacturing.

The report also shows that graduates are paying more attention to private enterprises. Nearly one quarter chose to work at private companies. 

(File photo)