Since its establishment in 1993, Shenzhen Polytechnic, a model of higher vocational education in China, has been advancing reforms to address talent issues. Striving to foster a team with young members at its core and pursuing innovation-driven development of industries, universities, research institutes and end-users, Shenzhen Polytechnic has made an outstanding grade in speeding up China's upgrade toward a major world center of talent and innovation.

Reforming the system and mechanism for talent development integration

Shenzhen Polytechnic has been eclectic in talent selection by adhering to the spirit of reform and innovation of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Over the years, the institution has removed barriers to personnel systems and employed excellent teachers from diverse specializations, gradually developing a teacher culture of "respecting talent, valuing openness and inclusiveness, honoring commitment and taking practical actions".

The school boasts more than 2,000 full-time teaching staff members, who are constituted by skilled craftsmen and great masters with bachelor degrees, high-level "part-time professors" from specific industries and enterprises, fearless young doctors and postdocs, and generalists proficient in teaching, researching and contesting.

In the Implementation Plan for Teaching Workforce in Shenzhen Polytechnicpublished last year, the school put forward the "classified evaluation" mechanism, which set various positions into categories of teaching-oriented, researching-oriented, teaching and researching combined, as well as other job types. Under the mechanism, teachers are able to choose their jobs independently and realize diverse development.

In addition, Shenzhen Polytechnic has also launched other policies for talent selection, talent cultivation and talent motivation at all levels. Teaching experts are able to stand out with theIncentives for Teaching Work in Shenzhen Polytechnic and the "Principal Awards for Teaching Quality"; professional achievements will be recognized by theImplementation Plan for Cultivation and Selection of Professional Leading Talents in Shenzhen Polytechnic; other prestigious awards including the "Lihu Scholars", "Lihu Masters", and "Lihu Skill Masters" are all critical for talents to reach their highest potential.

Cultivating talents with a focus on the young, building highly-skilled talent pool

In the recently published list of the "Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program" by the China Association for Science and Technology (2020-2022), Wang Hao, post-90s associate professor from the Hoffman Institute of Advanced Materials (set by a Nobel Prize Laureate) of Shenzhen Polytechnic, is the only entrant from a higher vocational institution among all the 400 candidates.

As a vibrant 28-year-old institution, Shenzhen Polytechnic boasts young talents in the same way. In recent years especially, with the need for positions, the school has recruited a larger quantity of young teachers and higher quality of talents, making more efforts to employ a range of excellent doctors and postdocs.

Adopting a number of national excellent young talent plans, such as the "Excellent Young Scientist Fund Program (Overseas)", the "Thousand Talents Plan" and the "Young Talent Support Plan", Shenzhen Polytechnic has cultivated a group of leading young and middle-aged teachers with an international perspective, innovation capability and development potentiality. Meanwhile, the school has also implemented the "Young Teachers Promoting Project", advanced the "Paired-up Assistance to New Teachers Plan", setting a "mentoring" system among teachers and a one-year probation period mechanism for new staff. The school has cultivated 500 young teachers through follow-up training and built a hub for highly-skilled talents.

Giving equal emphasis to talent introduction and talent cultivation, building a high-level team to taking over the "commanding heights" of enterprises, universities, research institutes and end-users

"As a higher vocational institution in the 'Double High-level Plan', Shenzhen Polytechnic has been sparing no efforts to build a high-caliber talent team and to gain an edge over enterprises, universities, research institutes, and end-users", said Xu Jianling, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Shenzhen Polytechnic.

In recent years, Shenzhen Polytechnic has successively introduced and set up 11 specialized high-end application R&D and innovation platforms, including the Hoffman Institute of Advanced Materials, the Institute for Intelligent Science and Engineering, and the Institute of Economic and Social Development, which have added momentum to research team building and helped to realize quality development of the school.

With the gathering of high-caliber talents, Shenzhen Polytechnic has gradually formed strategic propellers and a Wild Goose Pattern for talents, accomplishing an array of remarkable achievements in scientific research. It is taking the lead in scientific research among domestic congener education institutions, with the annual research expenditure exceeding RMB 100 million, and the total spending amounting to RMB 828 million.

In the development plan during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Shenzhen Polytechnic has put forward the great vision of "building talent hubs for skilled craftsmen and great masters". The school will bring in a quantity of skilled "craftsmen", great "masters" in strategically important sectors, and leading talents of industries; it will cultivate a number of pacesetters of specialty group building and masters with exceptional skills, together with a range of key teachers who are able to improve production process and tackle technical difficulties for enterprises; meanwhile, Shenzhen Polytechnic will build a high-level and structural teaching innovation team, whose members will have advanced philosophy, reasonable echelons, border-crossing teamwork spirit, high competence, and first-class international perspective.

Yang Xinbin, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shenzhen Polytechnic, said that the institution would need to hold in-depth discussions on how to meet the needs of the country, to exploit the advantages of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and to embrace the development trend of the future. The school will further plan the development at higher levels and promote education reforms, so as to make greater contributions to speeding up China's upgrade toward a major world center of talent and innovation.