Two paths that can largely lock in a staff post on the day you fill in college preferences: government-funded teacher-training students and targeted medical students, at the cost of 6 years of service

Both paths are the state paying first, and you then working for 6 years at the assigned place after graduation, under the agreement. Government-funded teacher-training students are recruited only at 6 normal universities directly under the Ministry of Education, in the early admission batch. Targeted medical students must sign a 3-party agreement before they receive the admission notice. Breaking the contract means paying the money back, paying liquidated damages, and a mark on the credit record. Decide whether you can accept these 6 years before you fill in preferences.

Cost

You do not pay tuition or housing, and you also receive a living stipend. The price is that for 6 years after graduation you cannot freely choose a job. Breaking the contract means paying the money back, paying liquidated damages, and a mark on the credit record. The hard part is that you cannot change place during these 6 years.

Benefit

Government-funded teacher-training students are in the Implementation Measures for Government-Funded Education of Teacher-Training Students on a Bachelor's-to-Master's Track at Normal Universities Directly under the Ministry of Education (2024; the 2018 measures were repealed at the same time). Article 2: central finance bears the student's tuition and housing during school and gives a living stipend. Article 3: training is mainly for places at prefecture (city, autonomous prefecture, league) level and below, outside provincial capitals, in the central and western regions. It also says placement "may not be directed to a municipality directly under the central government, a city specifically designated in the state plan, or the main urban area of a provincial capital (except the 5 autonomous regions, provinces on a land border, Hainan, Guizhou, and Qinghai)." Article 9: after graduation, generally return to teach in a primary or secondary school in the directed prefecture (city, autonomous prefecture, league) of the source province, and "promise to work in primary and secondary education for 6 years or more." A person assigned to an urban school "shall teach and serve for at least 1 year in a rural compulsory-education school." Article 13: a person who does not perform, or whose performed term falls short, bears liability under the agreement. A consequence is that "the breach is entered in the credit record, shared in time with the national credit-information sharing platform, and the materials on the breach are placed in the person's personnel file." Another sentence is: "Before the service task is completed, the person may not teach outside the directed prefecture (city, autonomous prefecture, league), and may not be recruited as other public personnel. After the service task is completed, the related credit is restored." Before the agreed service period is finished, other public posts cannot be applied for. After it is finished, the credit record is restored. Article 6: if an assessment after admission finds the person unsuitable to teach, within 1 year of enrollment the government-funded education expenses already received are returned, and the person is transferred to a non-teacher-training major. Article 14: if the master-of-education degree certificate and the teacher qualification certificate are not obtained within the prescribed length of study, it is treated as a breach: the fees are returned and liquidated damages are paid. Article 21: localities, within the existing total of public-institution posts, provide the posts needed for government-funded teacher-training graduates to teach in primary and secondary schools. Article 12 says the prefecture organizes the employing schools for a special recruitment of government-funded teacher-training students, and "by each side choosing the other, and by similar methods, a teaching school and a post are actually assigned to each graduating government-funded teacher-training student." Order-based tuition-free medical students directed to rural posts are in another notice. After admission, and before receiving the admission notice, an agreement must be signed with the training school and with the county health department and the human resources and social security department of the place of directed employment. The agreement must "promise to serve for 6 years after graduation at the directed rural primary-level medical institution." Performing the contract means working the full term at the assigned place under the agreement. On posts, the notice says the provincial health department "shall actively seek support from the local staffing department and, within the local total of posts, according to the prescribed procedure, properly resolve employment and placement of the targeted medical graduates." Those who report for work in the central and western regions are specially recruited by the county, which "completes the formal hiring procedures of a public-institution staff member." After reporting for work under the agreement, the graduate must take 3 years of standardized residency training in general practice, called residency training for short. Residency training is the stage after graduation in which you keep training in a hospital to a uniform standard. During training the original personnel relationship and wage relationship do not change. A breach record goes into the personal personnel file, and it is a basis for the integrity assessment in open recruitment by medical institutions and other administrative and public institutions, in recruitment for standardized residency training, and in postgraduate admission. A person who breaches in bad faith is publicized nationwide on the Credit China website («信用中国») and is subject to joint punishment for breach of trust. Years of training that are a breach are not counted in the service period. If the fees and liquidated damages are not returned under the agreement, the county health department recovers them through legal channels (nationwide).

Notes

The 2024 measures changed government-funded teacher-training students to a bachelor's-to-master's track (finish the bachelor's and continue to a master of education). The 2018 measures are already repealed. "Teach right after the bachelor's," still circulating online, is the old wording. An agreement signed before the measures were issued follows the original agreement. "Having a post" does not mean "once in, nothing more is asked." The post has to be found inside the existing total. The specific post is a special recruitment organized by the employing schools of the prefecture, and you and the school choose each other. For targeted medical students, the document only says the authorities should seek support and resolve it properly. Provinces do it differently. Read the provincial document before filling in preferences. A targeted medical student may leave when the service period ends. The document says: "When the service period is completed, a person who chooses a job independently shall be allowed to." There is also a way to clear a breach record that already exists. The price is to serve at least another 6 years under the original agreement, or after moving to another rural primary-level institution in the province. Fees and liquidated damages already paid are not refunded. Medical students also have to count the 3 years of residency training. The whole cycle is longer than for teachers. Provinces also have their own government-funded teacher plans and targeted medical student plans. The conditions are set by the province. Read that year's provincial admissions document before filling in preferences.

Sources · 2

1. 国务院办公厅 (2024). 关于转发教育部等部门《教育部直属师范大学本研衔接师范生公费教育实施办法》的通知（国办发〔2024〕27 号，第二、三、六、九、十二、十三、十四、二十一条）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202406/content_69572…
2. 国家卫生健康委、中央编办、国家发展改革委、教育部、财政部、人力资源社会保障部、国家中医药局 (2019). 关于做好农村订单定向免费培养医学生就业安置和履约管理工作的通知. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2019-11/13/content_5…