With Zhejiang province and Shanghai becoming pilot areas for the newly reformed Gaokao system, how to encourage the development of each individual student in this new context has evoked plenty of consideration and discussions. Recently, the Sino-British College, USST has initiated a conversation with the affiliated High School to Hangzhou Normal University (HSDFZ) to address this. From 11th to 20th November 2014, SBC brought its featured careers training into HSDFZ and presented a series of training sessions to its year-one students.
As a secondary college of USST, SBC was jointly established as a Joint Venture between the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and nine leading British universities including the University of Leeds and the University of Sheffield. SBC is committed to helping students become independent learners, improving their adaptability in a changing world, enhancing their employability and multi-cultural communication skills.
SBC has an excellent careers team that is highly mature and professional. Cooperating with the Careers Research and Advisory Centre in the UK, the SBC careers service and development (CSD) centre provides students with tailored training courses, guest lectures and simulated training sessions to help them become better prepared for the job market by enhancing their team work spirit, communication skills, adaptability and problem-solving abilities. It also offers advice and guidance to help students better plan their future.
There were a total of 12 courses delivered to the HSDFZ students during the four days; these courses can be categorised into four areas. Firstly, subject courses and professional development classes were delivered by Dr Adrian Chong, Director of the Engineering Department, Lee Henderson, Director of Accounting and Finance Department, and Tony Ryan, Director of Events Management Department, the last of whom covered the three subject areas in terms of career development and professional qualifications. Secondly, careers development courses were delivered by Yan Fei from the CSD centre with detailed analysis and evaluation of careers development. Thirdly, excellent graduates were invited to share their experiences in terms of choosing pathway, further study and career planning. Finally, Lee Henderson, Director of Accounting and Finance Departments introduced the career training methods and courses set-up in high school in US and Canada.
He Hangjie, Vice President of HSDFZ said, as regulated in the new Gaokao system for Zhejiang province, students will no longer be differentiated based on their streams (Art or Science). 2014 students are required to select three out of the seven subjects, but the bigger question is how? To answer this question, students have to understand the importance of career planning by becoming familiar with the qualifications and requirements for different industries and also starting their career planning early-on. The training courses delivered by SBC staff are very popular on campus and students receive great benefits from them. All of the courses brought new insights to students in terms of their future planning.
Three outstanding SBC graduates (Chen Junlin, Li Xiaoci and Zhang Yi) shared their stories of success, which were well received by HSDFZ students, who expressed how much they learnt from these graduates’ valuable experiences, for example, in how to choose subjects in high school, how to choose majors in college and how to formulate a career plan. Chen Junlin, from Zhejiang, chose to study Finance in college. After completing his undergraduate study at the University of Leeds and graduating from the University of York with a Master’s Degree, Chen Junlin was employed by Lujiazui International Trust Corporation Limited. He has been promoted to the level of Manager. He said that graduates would have a prosperous career in financial industry but they had to work hard and learn to be independent learners. Li Xiaoci, from Jiangshu, chose to study Manufacturing Systems Engineering in college. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree from the University of Sheffield, he was employed by the Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics at Shang Jiao Tong University. Now he is working as cryogenics refrigeration engineer. He said that the key thing to his success was setting a goal then making every effort to achieve it by combining theory and real practice. Zhang Yi, from Zhejiang, chose to study Manufacturing Systems Engineering in college. He received his Master’s degree from University College London. Now he is working as an engineer at the Shanghai Electric Wind Power Equipment Co., Ltd. He said that students need to choose majors based on their own interests and characters. He also advised that students need to have a clear thought about their career development and cultivate their professional skills for workplace when studying in college.
SBC has had four cohorts of graduates with high rates of employment and postgraduate placement for the past four years. Many SBC graduates have received job offers from large transnational corporations like Global 500 companies or State-Owned companies, such as Shanghai General Motor, Saic Group, AUTOLIV, Deloitte, and Emerson etc. SBC graduates have performed very well in different industries and received a great deal credit from their many and varied employers.
