BEIJING - Though China saw a slight increase in the number of college applicants in 2014 after a five-consecutive year decline since 2009, this will go little way to relieve the college recruitment crisis.

Last year 9.39 million people sat the "gaokao" (the national college entrance exam), an increase of 270,000 from the previous year.

However, according to the "2015 College Recruitment Report" released Tuesday by eol.cn, a leading Chinese education portal, most colleges have failed to hit their recruitment goal for years.

In Beijing, most colleges failed to recruit enough freshmen over the past four years.

"Chinese colleges are experiencing a deep crisis in enrollment," said eol.cn chief editor Chen Zhiwen.

The situation has exposed the problem that too many colleges offer the same majors, resulting in poor employment prospects for students and colleges loosing their attractiveness, said Chen.

The gross entrance ratio of higher education in China was 34.5 percent in 2013, compared with 23.3 percent in 2008.