在八0年代中共高等教育政策中，大陸的研究生教育一直處於陪襯的位置，至八0年代末，還因大環境的影響，報考人數急速萎縮。九0年代初，中共加大市場經濟和人才市場的改革。寬鬆的人力資源政策扭轉了人才市場的走向，學歷、學校名聲逐漸受到重視，研究所畢業生就業行情大漲，研究所招生考試的人數亦逐年躍升，形成了「考研熱」。本文研究發現，「考研熱」在推動九0年代大陸研究生教育發展的同時，亦反映了其「文憑教育」的走向。

Since launching economic reforms in the early 1980s， Beijing it has spared no efforts to develop higher education in the Chinese mainland. Nonetheless， the focus has remained on two-year college and four-year undergraduate education; graduate school education had seldom been placed in prominent position.

In the late 1980s，graduate schools，affected by unfavorable ec?nomic and political conditions， suffered a drastic drop of enrollment. Itwas not until Deng Xiaoping reaffirmed the market economy in his 1992 southern tour of the Chinese mainland， under the surging demand for professionals in the job market， has higher level of educational background started gaining respect.

A graduate with a master's or doctoral degree has come into demand in the job market. To continue advanced study in graduate school has become a major route for vast university graduates-to-be. Over the past year， the fierce competition in the entrance examination for graduate schools has been a hot topic in the Chinese mainland. In this “fever"，onesees the potential of the market for graduate school education， but at the same time the innate danger of the overemphasis on diplomas.