The employment rate for graduates of higher vocational schools in China rose slightly from 2010 to 2012, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report, jointly conducted by the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences and the educational research company MyCOS Institute, said the employment rate of vocational graduates increased to 90.4 percent in 2012, just below the 91.5-percent employment rate for college graduates in the same year.

Employment rates for graduates of higher vocational schools stood at 88.1 and 89.6 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively, while employment rates for college graduates hit 91.2 and 90.8 in 2010 and 2011, said the report.

Researchers surveyed about 200,000 graduates of higher vocational schools in the 31 provincial-level regions on China's mainland over the past few years.

In order to increase students' competitiveness in the job market, higher vocational schools have cooperated with businesses to match them with what firms need in terms of skills, said Li Jin, chairman of the national joint conference of higher vocational schools and junior colleges.

According to the report, more than 40,000 technical courses were jointly developed by vocational schools and companies, and 1,318 majors were created in higher vocational education.

"Higher vocational education should match skills with what the market needs to cultivate more qualified technicians," Li said.

The survey also shows that the incomes of higher vocation school graduates rose 120 percent from 2009 to 2012.

The rate of self-employed higher vocational school graduates reached 2.9 percent in 2012, while 1.2 percent of college graduates chose to open their own businesses in the same year, it said.

Graduates of higher vocational schools have become a main force in small and medium-sized companies, accounting for 60 percent of the employment in firms with fewer than 300 staff, said the report.

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