(Yicai Global) July 29 -- Many prestigious universities in China are lowering the entry threshold for students wishing to major in civil engineering this year as a downturn in the property sector has led to less available jobs and, as a result, fewer applications.

Big colleges such as Shanghai’s Tongji University, the country’s top university for civil engineering, and Jilin University in the northeast of the country have lowered the minimum scores needed in college entrance exams to enter the program in order to meet their enrollment targets, according to a list of university admissions made public by central Henan province earlier this month.

But despite the easier admission conditions, the two universities failed to fill all their places and still have one and eight available spaces, respectively.

As the real estate sector enters a stage of ‘oversupply,’ there is less engineering work, which means there is less demand for civil engineers, Huang Guoru, professor at the department of hydraulic engineering at the South China University of Technology’s School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, told Yicai Global.

Being employed in the real estate sector is becoming less attractive to university students, said Zhang Bo, director of think tank 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute.

Property sales are expected to tumble by 17 percent over the next five years, by 21 percent between 2026 and 2030 and by 27 percent from 2031 to 2034, according to a report by real estate research firm Beike Research Institute.

Last year, the property sector had the second-most layoffs, behind the culture, education and media industry, online recruitment platform Liepin said. Many big developers started to let staff go from July last year.

By contrast, other sectors are actively hiring. The chipmaking sector had the most new jobs for college graduates with new hires sextupling in the second quarter from the same period last year, according to Beijing-based Liepin.

New energy vehicles and the Internet of Things sectors were close behind with the number of new positions surging almost five-and-a-half fold and three times, respectively, over the period. While the biomedical, new materials, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence and fifth-generation mobile network fields all had least twice as many new jobs on offer for fresh graduates.

In the future, the civil engineering and construction sectors will be on the hunt for talent who can adapt to the digital era and have interdisciplinary skills, Huang said.

“Our school started a new major in ‘smart construction’ this year, aiming to incorporate some cutting-edge digital technologies into traditional majors. We also have programs in intelligent hydraulic engineering and smart water affairs, which are being strongly promoted by the water industry,” he added.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Kim Taylor