A recent survey shows many Chinese college students are hoping to earn a monthly salary between 2,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan after graduation, an expectation that is too high, said a Chinese career advisor.

"They should be more realistic in their salary expectations," said Zhang Jianguo, chief executive officer of ChinaHR.com, a leading career advisory agency.

ChinaHR.com surveyed 30,537 college students nationwide and found that 69.8 percent of the students expected their monthly salaries to be in the 1,000-4,000 yuan range.

Just over 32 percent expected their monthly salaries to be in the 2,000-3,000 yuan range.

Graduates with Masters degrees and doctors generally expect their monthly salaries to be above 5,000 yuan.

The survey also shows that 79.2 percent of college students expect to be employed after graduation.

More than 40 percent of the surveyed students want to become directors or managers within 5 years of graduation.

According to a research report issued by Peking University in December 2005, the average starting monthly salary of junior college students is 1,333 yuan, college students earn 1,549 yuan, masters grads make 2,674 yuan and doctors 2,917 yuan.

A rapid increase in China's college enrollment in recent years has created intense competition on the job market and forced college graduates to lower job and salary expectations.

Students who manage to find jobs today are still far better off than their peers from 20 years ago. Graduates in the 1980's often made less than 100 yuan a month, while those who left school in the mid 1990's worked for salaries that were rarely over 300 yuan a month.

Editor: Wing