The Ministry of Education said it will investigate any falsified employment information for graduates after the ministry found some colleges faking employment contracts for graduates in order to enhance their reputations.

The ministry opposes any form of fabricating employment information for college graduates and will hold colleges and local education authorities that have falsified employment information accountable, it said in a notice on Tuesday evening.

Graduates can check their employment status at the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center website, and colleges and education authorities should verify the employment information of all graduates, especially those who have registered for flexible employment, it said.

The ministry has also set up a hotline and email account to receive reports on employment information fabrication, it said.

According to a notice issued by the ministry last month, education authorities and colleges should not force graduates to sign employment agreements or contracts, and should not associate contract signing with issuing a diploma or degree.

Instead, colleges and authorities should make it their priority to help graduates find jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry said.

A record 8.74 million students graduated from the country's higher education institutions this year, and they have faced more challenges in finding employment amid the pandemic.

According to a report by Xinhua Daily Telegraph, students at Hebei University were asked by student counselors to sign contracts with private studios even though they had not found jobs.

Another student at Anhui Xinhua University told the newspaper that the school would not allow its students to graduate unless they signed employment agreements with companies.

The report also said that some shops at e-commerce platform Taobao offered fake employment agreements to graduates.

Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of EOL, China's largest online education portal, said the reason some colleges fake employment data is that the employment rate of a college's graduates remains one of the most important criteria in school evaluations.

For less well-known colleges, a high employment rate for graduates directly influences the number and quality of students they can enroll, he said.

Amid the pandemic, students have been faced with more pressure to find jobs, so some schools are under more pressure to fake employment information to make the schools appear good, he said.

He also cautioned students who have not found ideal jobs to lower their expectations and start work right away, even at less desirable posts, to accumulate experience and move up the career ladder gradually.