Employment prospects for MBA graduates from China's prestigious universities are better this year, as their average salary level also shows a slight increase over the previous two years.

According to statistics from Beijing University, Qinghua University and Beijing University of Science and Engineering, all boasting good MBA schools, the annual average salary for a home-trained MBA graduate has risen to 115,000 yuan (about 14,000 US dollars) this year from 104,000 yuan (12,000 US dollars) and 97,000 yuan (11,700 US dollars) in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

In the past three years, Chinese MBAs seemed to be losing popularity in the domestic job market. Although their salaries were still among the highest for new graduates from universities and colleges, the margin between them and graduates from other majors was narrowing rapidly.

Scholars and experts attribute the better employment for MBA graduates to the sustained, rapid growth of the Chinese economy, as well as the efforts of university authorities to help their MBA graduates in job-seeking. Most universities with an MBA school have encouraged and helped their students complete an internship in domestic or foreign companies.