With the job market tightening and college enrollment expanding, over a third of young Chinese say their college study experience was not as rewarding as they had expected, according to a newspaper survey.

The survey, published in Monday's (Aug 14) China Youth Daily, showed that 34.7 percent of the 8,777 respondents said they regretted their university experience as what they had learnt was not worth the time and money invested.

"Sometimes I feel I have wasted the money my parents earned by the sweat of their brows by entering university. I can't make a living from what I learnt, let alone repay my parents," said a university graduate surnamed Zhao, quoted by the paper.

After graduating from Beijing Agricultural University, Zhao has taken a job as a security guard in Beijing with a monthly salary of 800 yuan (roughly 101 US dollars).

Zhao said he was now preparing to do postgraduate study during the day while temping at a McDonald's restaurant at night. "I have to get a Master's diploma. I have no other choice," he said.

About 51.5 percent of the respondents said they had learnt nothing practical in university and 39.2 percent said they couldn't land a job with a bachelor's degree, the survey said.

Nearly 4.13 million students graduated from China's universities in 2006, compared with 1.15 million in 2001, the survey said. But salaries for university graduates have been declining.

Before college enrollments exploded six years ago, university graduates could easily find a job with a monthly salary of 2,500 -- 3,000 yuan. But now graduates are willing to work for just hundreds of yuan a month to find a slot in the already tight job markets, the survey said.

67.2 percent of the polled said university study had become less rewarding after enrollments expanded. But another 44.7 percent thought it would be harder to find a job without university experience.

About 28 percent of respondents said that, if they were to do it again, they would choose to enter a polytechnic rather than a university because today's employers seemed to be prefer practical skills.

Editor: Wing