China's universities and research institutes are experiencing the 'Matthew effect', whereby powerful institutions become stronger and weaker ones become even weaker. It is in the country's long-term interest to rectify this by shifting the educational focus of less-prestigious universities to help domestic job seekers.

Chinese academic institutions are clamping down on the recruitment of research staff as the market becomes saturated with domestic PhD graduates. The top-tier universities (known as '985 Project' institutions; see H. Zhang et al. Res. Policy 42, 765–775; 2013) set the most stringent entry requirements, demanding high qualifications from leading and overseas institutions.

The aim seems to be to attract international talent, as outlined in the government's Recruitment Program of Global Experts, with a view to creating several world-class academic universities in China. To this end, the leading universities have already received a large amount of financial and other support. At the same time, 'ordinary' universities are becoming less competitive as they lose the power to draw in resources and the best people.

To restore the balance, we suggest that these less powerful universities should focus on offering vocational education programmes (see Q. Wang Nature 499, 381; 2013) or training students for high-level positions outside academia (see Nature 472, 276–279; 2011).