Strives for higher quality employment and entrepreneurship

It is important for China and the Communist Party of China to promote the creation of new innovative businesses. Fulfillment of that task is the country’s expectation and a requirement of colleges and universities.

In recent years, the School of Finance, Renmin University of China (RUC) has explored this obligation and made practical progress in promoting high-quality employment and entrepreneurship for its graduates.

I. Be aware of how to encourage employment and entrepreneurship while shouldering the corresponding responsibility

To colleges and universities nothing is more important than the employment and entrepreneurial prospects of their graduates. Employment and entrepreneurship are the destination of a journey made with a kind of “shoulder pole”, weighed down with responsibilities. One side, the colleges and authorities that examine and evaluate colleges – looking at their talent cultivation history and their disciplinary strength and reputations -- might be called “the producers”; the other side we can call “the customers”, or all sectors, including students, employers and parents, which have expectations and requirements of post-graduate education institutions. It is the challenge of college and university administrators to carry this pole on their shoulders energetically and stably.

They must move ahead firmly, all the while balancing the shoulder pole and without staggering or slowing down.

In the fall of 20l4, an employer-satisfaction survey was done by RUC’s School of Finance with the support and cooperation of employers, the results of which were generally satisfactory. However, there should be a serious awareness of the need to encourage employment and entrepreneurship.

Graduates of different universities possess the characteristics and strengths of those universities as they pursue employment and entrepreneurship. This is also true for graduates of different schools in a university.

Through analysis of three years of data on the employment of its graduates, which included comparing it to similar data from Guanghua College, Peking University, and the College of Management and Economics of Tsinghua University, RUC was able to obtain more accurate decision-making information about graduates’ employment and entrepreneurial prospects.

II. The principal’s dedication to employment and entrepreneurship

The School of Finance prioritizes the development of employment prospects and regards it as a top leadership project. Guo Qingwang, dean of the school, has a pet phrase: “with open eyes you know there are three things to be done -- teaching, scientific research and employment”.

Employment, teaching, and scientific research are seldom treated the same way which is why the school attaches such importance to post-graduate employment. Instead of concerning itself with the rate of employment, the school focuses on how to achieve a higher quality of employment.

A resume is a stepping-stone to success. The school has insisted that each student must “provide a decent resume" as a basic requirement since 2009. It has set up an advisory group with about 15 members to guide every student in writing a good resume for job-hunting.

In 2012, a special employment fund at the school level was established in order to help graduates with difficulties finding employment and economically disadvantaged students. Though the amount of money is not much, it does reimburse students for the cost of their transportation and accommodation. Students are grateful for it.

Also in 2012, a special counseling office was established and made available for all students. Counselors help students set up learning plans and tutor them according to their different majors. The service is especially valuable for freshmen in terms of educational guidance, career counseling and planning, and physical and mental health support.

In 2013, 105 supervisors drawn from famous alumni and social elites from all walks of life were employed by the school to help students solve problems in terms of their internships, employment and entrepreneurship.

A career development center was also established in 2013.

III. Measure employment and entrepreneurship from the perspective of "one lifetime"

Compared with the past, employment these days depends more on an employee’s ability rather than which famous school they may have gone to, their appearance, or their family background.

An employee’s ability is their passport to employment. A graduate's value and competence would be rated first-class if the schools' educational activities could target solid expertise and good innovation potential. Only in this way can graduates find satisfactory jobs and stand the test of the employment market no matter how it may change in the future.

Frankly, what teachers should do is to improve the students’ competence in finding and keeping employment and develop their entrepreneurial skills to help them cope with the challenges of the employment market. College teachers should no longer give less weight to employment and entrepreneurship. With this approach students with high competence will continually make progress and will meet the markets’ changeable needs even in its weakest periods.

A series of activities, including lectures, simulated interviews and one-to-one counseling has been organized by the finance school since 2011.

These activities, which attract students, teachers, enterprise executives and other leaders, are customized to the two specialties of finance and economics.

They are designed to satisfy students’ thirst for improvement, and are characterized by single-minded focus, relevance and practicality to serve students and effectively improve their employment prospects.

The experience gained over recent years shows that a long-term system for all students, focused on bringing their employment futures into the whole process of talent cultivation, should be established. The system should respect specialization and professionalization while combining traditional student programs with forward-looking educational activities. This approach would maximize the students’ ability to take advantage of changing concepts of employment and take part in increasingly innovative entrepreneurship.

Meanwhile, the school should strive to gain the support of alumni and social communities in order to create a good environment for students’ employment, and develop “one-to-one” supportive mechanisms for those students who are economically challenged or who have difficulties finding employment.

IV Provide a “one-stop" service to guarantee a productive focus on employment and entrepreneurship

On the basis of a continuing high employment rate, the quality of employment opportunities for graduates has generally improved year by year. For example, a stable proportion of graduates have been able to study abroad, or to proceed to graduate studies in domestic schools.

In addition, the rate of employment for new graduates is higher. A large number of graduates have entered the national financial system through organizations such as the people's bank of China, CBRC, CSRC and CIRC.

It is notable that in the past four years, some overseas financial workers have returned to take up entrepreneurship. However, the number of RUC graduates who have found work in financial institutions in Europe, the United States and Hong Kong is also growing every year.

The school places great value on “one-stop” and “four platforms”. The so-called “one-stop”, a series of activities for advancement of employment and entrepreneurship, is itself a platform to which is added three more: strategic cooperation, alumni support, and external tutorial guidance.

In short, advancing graduates' employment and entrepreneurship is a new challenge demanding not only awareness but also responsibility.

Huang Wenbin and Yu Haoying contributed to this story.