Recently, Wang Xiaoping, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, stated that there are over 200 million skilled workers in China, including over 60 million high skilled talents, providing strong human resources support for high-quality economic development. However, digital, innovative, and versatile high skilled talents who can adapt to the development of new industries, new models, and new driving forces are still scarce.
It is reported that senior skilled workers in Japan account for 40% of industrial workers, while in Germany it reaches 50%. In China, skilled workers only account for 26% of the total employed population, and high skilled talents account for less than 30% of the total skilled talents. There is still a certain gap between China and developed countries in terms of the proportion of high skilled talents.
The role of vocational schools in cultivating talent shortage is highlighted
At present, China’s industrial transformation and upgrading, as well as technological progress, have put forward higher requirements for the skill quality of workers. However, the shortage of skilled talents, especially high skilled talents, has put pressure on the stable development of the economy and society. Data shows that by 2025, the shortage of skilled personnel in the top ten key areas of manufacturing alone is expected to reach nearly 30 million people.
Xinhua Internet Technology Launches High skill Training Base in Jinan, Shandong Photographed by Cao Xiaolin
To this end, in October 2022, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of High skilled Talent Teams in the New Era”, which set a requirement for the proportion of high skilled talents to reach one-third and 35% in eastern provinces by the end of the 14th Five Year Plan period.
The cultivation of high skilled talents has been put on the agenda, entering the fast lane, and the career “spring” of high skilled talents is coming. However, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security stated that the phenomenon of talent training not meeting market demand has further intensified, and vocational skills training faces new challenges during the 14th Five Year Plan period.
Wang Xiaoping stated that strengthening the construction of skilled talent teams is an important way to promote the development and utilization of human resources, as well as a key measure to solve structural contradictions in employment. Talent cultivation needs to better adapt to market changes and industry demands.
How to cultivate high skilled talents urgently needed by industries and enterprises? Relying on school enterprise cooperation, industry education integration training bases, high skilled talent training bases, skill master studios, model worker and craftsman talent innovation studios, online learning platforms, etc. are considered a good model. In this regard, vocational education has become an important battlefield for cultivating high skilled talents.
In recent years, China has established the type status of vocational education, built a modern vocational education system that is vertically connected and horizontally integrated, and cultivated a large number of technical and skilled talents to support economic and social development.
Shandong Jinan, Xinhua Internet Technology and Baidu and other enterprises have reached school enterprise cooperation on integration of industry and education Photographed by Cao Xiaolin
On March 12, Xinhua Internet Technology, a subsidiary of China Oriental Education, released the Xinhua Internet Technology High Skills Training Base in Jinan Campus, Shandong Province, aiming to meet the high requirements of the rapid development of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and so on in the digital intelligence era for the cultivation of new era technologists, and create a comprehensive platform integrating talent cultivation, technological innovation, and industrial upgrading.
Sha Xu, executive vice president of China Oriental Education, said that Xinhua Internet Technology had been committed to training highly skilled talents for many years and had done a lot of preliminary work, but the release of the highly skilled training base was the first time. He revealed that Jinan is the first to release, and the first batch of 8 to 10 high skill training bases will be built in the first half of this year. It is planned to build more than 20 high skill training bases nationwide by the end of 2024, covering Hefei, Zhengzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and other places. In the future, Xinhua Internet Technology will connect courses, projects, enterprise resources, etc. to the base to form a demonstration driving effect.
The demand for skill training in vocational schools is heating up
In recent years, “education+skills certificate” has become a common configuration for many college graduates when seeking employment, and the phenomenon of college graduates returning to vocational colleges to learn skills has attracted social attention. Last year, the news of Anhui candidates exceeding the undergraduate admission line by 78 points and entering vocational colleges sparked heated discussions. In fact, it is no longer uncommon for candidates with scores exceeding the general high school and undergraduate admission lines to choose vocational education in recent years. This reflects the increasingly urgent demand for high-quality skilled talents in society.
Several ‘returning’ graduates have expressed that skill learning can provide them with new opportunities to expand their careers. At the beginning of graduation, the starting salary was lower than expected, while friends who were studying in vocational colleges around them had even higher salaries. Many college students go to vocational schools to learn skills and take certificates.
Xinhua Internet Technology and Hebei Xinshuo Group and other enterprises have signed a contract for school enterprise cooperation on integration of industry and education in Jinan Photographed by Cao Xiaolin
In addition, the acceleration of technological iteration requires practitioners to continuously learn new skills. Several practitioners have mentioned that employers encourage employees to obtain more skill certificates during their employment, which are considered important conditions for promotion, salary increase, and excellence. Returning to vocational schools to learn skills has become a must-have for professionals in some employment fields. The company I work for now stipulates that obtaining an additional relevant skill certificate will result in a salary increase of 500 yuan. Through hard work, my income is gradually increasing, “said a professional in the workplace.
In recent years, the number of enterprises entrusting vocational schools to provide pre employment and post employment training for undergraduate students has been increasing. These companies stated that in the past, students were paid to study in the company for at least the first three months after joining, and the training costs were borne by the companies themselves. Recently, in order to reduce labor costs, some companies have stopped providing paid internships for graduates and instead require them to learn relevant skills before returning to work directly.
It is understood that every year, many college graduates go to Xinhua Internet Technology to learn professional skills, and their career development is enhanced. Song Jiayan, the person in charge of Xinhua Internet Technology High Skills Training Base, introduced that the base focuses on AIGC, PLC programming engineers, intelligent Internet of Things technology applications, Hongmeng application development, network security engineers and other directions around the regional industry chain incubation specialty, and cooperates with enterprises to cultivate high skilled talents and provide lifelong employment security services.
There are multiple paths to success. We should not see vocational education and general education as hierarchical relationships, they are just different types of education, “said Ouyang Hongwei, Vice President of Zhejiang University of Technology.
Xinhua Internet Technology signed a contract with Beijing Langjie Technology Co., Ltd. and other enterprises in Jinan to cooperate with school enterprises in the integration of industry and education Photographed by Cao Xiaolin
At the same time as the release of the high-tech training base, nine well-known enterprises, including Xinhua Internet Technology and Inspur, Baidu, and Zhongke Hope Group, signed school enterprise cooperation agreements on integration of industry and education to promote the deep integration of vocational education and industrial development, so as to better provide talent protection for economic and social development. It is reported that Xinhua Internet Technology has carried out integrated teaching of production and education for many years and has achieved fruitful results. At present, it has reached strategic cooperation with more than 30000 enterprises, cultivating and delivering a large number of highly skilled talents for the society.
The acceleration of the cultivation of high skilled talents is an important manifestation of the continuous deepening of the integration of industry and education, marking a new stage of high-quality development of vocational education in China, which aims to improve the quality of training and enhance value-added empowerment. During this process, the position of vocational schools in cultivating high skilled talents will gradually rise and they will also gain greater development space.
Source: Xinhua News Agency Client China Famous Brand Channel