Work experience gives students the edge

Students and teachers make chemical experiment at the lab. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University is rolling out a new education model to train students. Zhang Zefeng reports from Suzhou, Jiangsu.

This summer, most of Amanda Chinembiri's freshmen schoolmates at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University went home for the holidays.

But the electrical engineering major from Zimbabwe said she had an equally enjoyable break, by working during the one and a half months instead.

During her stint, Chinembiri wrote proposals, met deadlines and solved problems with professionals in various projects. She also familiarized herself with the company she worked for, including its business operations and strategy.

"The idea itself was very exciting," says Chinembiri. "I now know that the step from student to working professional is very big."

Chinembiri's work experience was part of a university pilot program called the Industry and Enterprise Tailored Education, which aims to train undergraduates as high-level professionals by working at enterprises in promising fields.

Chinembiri was one of the 37 freshmen who joined the program. "We had to change everything that we knew about how life could be or should be, in a professional and social context," she says.