Over the years, Zhaoqing, a city of Guangdong, has been dedicated to attracting talent from both China and abroad to strengthen its R&D power and nurture technicians for enterprises to promote local development.
Expat settles down in Zhaoqing to empower the city's sci-tech innovation
In a lab of the International Academy of Optoelectronics at Zhaoqing, South China Normal University (SCNU), Eser Metin Akinoglu from Germany, a PhD in physics and assistant professor of the academy, was conducting an experiment with his student Chen Ting. He has served in this academy since 2017 through talent introduction.
"Zhaoqing has supported us financially to build this institute," Dr. Akinoglu told GDToday. He mentioned that Zhaoqing's continuously optimized business environment, preferential policies for talent and public services the local government provided made him determine to settle down in the city.
"Since I came to Zhaoqing, it has developed so much," said Dr. Akinoglu. "Now it's booming and full of people. New companies have settled here. We have research collaborations with several companies in Guangdong where we help with research and development. I'm actually quite proud of how much we have achieved here."
Chen Ting, Dr. Akinoglu's student and also a research assistant of the academy, graduated from Guilin University of Electronic Technology in Guangxi in 2021 and got an offer to Zhaoqing through campus recruitment. She told GDToday that Zhaoqing's government provided her with a series of living allowances to help her settle down in the city. "When I encounter difficulties that I fail to solve on my own, my teachers, classmates and colleagues give me a helping hand," she explained.
Technician institutes inject qualified technicians into local enterprises
Moreover, vocational and technical schools in Zhaoqing also nurture a lot of technicians for the local enterprises involved in various industries. Established in 1964, Zhaoqing Technician Institute is known as one of the national key technician institutes and a training base for high-tech technicians in Guangdong province, cultivating technicians for the manufacturing industry in particular.
According to Du Yanmin, director of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Zhaoqing Technician Institute, the institute takes contest participation as a leading force to inspire students; students who are selected into the class set up for contest preparation not only learn techniques and knowledge but also enhance their overall capacity.
"Those students trained in these classes are very popular among enterprises. Basically, they are offered a high salary and work in the R&D department of the companies," Du furthered.
In addition, in 2019, Zhaoqing Technician Institute established an institute-enterprise cooperation alliance, inviting 100 enterprises such as XPENG, Haier Appliances, Hitachi Group and Guangdong Fenghua Advanced Technology Holding Co., Ltd. to work with the institute to train teachers and talent.
"We invite experts from businesses to give lectures to our students based on their actual needs. And then we adjust our teaching plan to match with the needs of their production, so actually our students are trained with targeted goals," Du said.
Official statistics show that every year, more than 95% of graduates from the institute get offers to work in enterprises. In 2022, 56.18% of them chose to stay and work in Zhaoqing.
Reporter | Nancy Ye
Video | Zhang Tianxiong
Photo | Zhang Tianxiong, Zheng Haixiang (intern)
Editors | Wing, Nan, Will, Monica, James, Jerry
