In response to the deepening of comprehensive reforms for the University Entrance Examination system in Zhejiang province, and to strengthen high-school career counseling and career planning education, Dr. James Abbott from SBC’s School of Engineering was invited to attend and speak at the 2nd International Forum on High School Students Career Planning Education on 8th January 2016. The Forum was held by Hangzhou Xuejun High School, one of SBC’s school partners under the program of Key National Bases for Talented High School Graduates.
In his presentation, Dr. James Abbott shared his knowledge and experience on career development for students in British and American high schools. Dr. Abbott graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a doctorate in Physics. He has rich professional experience andhas worked for the Stanford Research Institute as a senior physics researcher, Apple Inc. as a test engineer and also chief engineer at Abbott Sound and Charles Salter Assoc..
Dr. Abbott also discussed how SBC and 13 key high schools, including Hangzhou Xuejun High School, jointly launched the scheme of Key National Bases for Talented High School Graduates. Dr. Abbott expressed that sharing educational resources and encouraging academic cooperation would be extremely helpful for developing in-depth collaborative relationships between high schools and universities. Given SBC’s commitment to developing students' career skills, with professional input and support from the Careers Service and Development Centre, the college has established an effective career development system, offering tailor-made career training courses to students and opportunities for internships and placements.
In addition, Dr. Abbott shared his personal experience on planning his own career and providing career advice to students when he worked in other educational institutions. From his point of view, the role of career service in high schools is extremely important. In the British and American education systems, career service teams are responsible for establishing contacts and links with all kinds of enterprises and institutions that students can visit or have internship or placement. For SBC, the career service team provides a wide range of professional training programmes to students to improve their career skills, including interview skills, CV writing, and even people skills for the workplace. The career service team also provides students with opportunities to gain knowledge about different industries and experience different working environments through field trips and placement.
Other distinguished guests attending the forum included senior officials from Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education, alumni and parents of Xuejun High School and academics and practitioners from other universities and institutions, such as Peking University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The guests shared their views and ideas on developing career skills and enhancing employability for high school students, which reflected the commitment that high schools had made for strengthening career service in their own institutions.
