Left Behind in a VUCA World: Rural Students Struggling Amid China’s Urban-Rural Division

In today's VUCA world, university graduates from rural family backgrounds encounter more difficulties in employment. On the one hand, they cannot find a place in big cities; on the other hand, they are reluctant to return to their hometowns. That is closely related to the gap between urban and rural education levels. The rural living environment during their adolescence makes them less comprehensive than children from urban families regarding social skills and personality development. These factors cause them to be disadvantaged in the competition for employment. They most need employment assistance and guidance from the government and the university. They should be the leading target group for the employment assistance policy for university students. This paper describes rural college students' employment plight through the perspective of urban-rural education imbalance. It analyzes the problems and related countermeasures faced by the government and the education sector.