Top educational institute aims to attract, foster talent

By Yuan Shenggao | China Daily | Updated: 2019-03-11 09:00

Over the years, Shandong University has made remarkable efforts in building a world-class talent mechanism and attracting professionals from both China and abroad, launching a series of reforms and policies to improve management and services, said Fan Liming, president of the university and deputy to the 13th National People's Congress.

"Talented people are a vital resource for a university to become world famous," Fan said.

Since its establishment in 1901, Shandong University has considered talented people its key asset, and a vital way to fulfill its original aspiration to "gather experts for society and make the country prosperous", she added.

To date, Shandong University has formed a four-level talent system of "top talent, leading talent, young talent and backup talent" based on all kinds of assessments such as academic level and development potential.

The system provides talented people at different ages and disciplines with matching support and training through innovative approaches in terms of the selection process, guarantees and management. It plays a key role in boosting the university's overall talent strategy.

Shandong University is home to 12 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 37 distinguished professors from the list of Changjiang Scholars, a program initiated by the Ministry of Education to award individuals with extraordinary academic contributions, 41 winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and 29 people who gained the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Youth Fund Project.

Fan said Shandong University has always attached great importance on attracting and fostering young talent and initiated a series of projects such as "Qilu Young Scholars" and "Future Plan for Young Talent". The university has cultivated a large number of talented people and set a solid foundation for its sustainable development.

Last year, Shandong University attracted 91 young professionals under its Qilu Young Scholars program and selected 94 scholars from the Future Plan for Young Talent program. This year, the provincial-level young talent projects have selected 41 people from Shandong University, among which 28 are from the two projects.

"Shandong University focuses a lot more on the cultivation of young professionals and aims to advance the Qilu Young Scholars and Future Plan for Young Talent projects with a series of favorable policies. The university will intensify its focus on young talent's study and life and create more opportunities for them to become first-class professionals," Fan said.

Selected into the first batch of the Future Plan for Young Talent project, Zhao Han, a professor at Center for Reproductive Medicine, Shandong University, could gain a research fund of 500,000 yuan ($74,626) and an annual post subsidy of 30,000 yuan.

Shandong University has also held the Qilu Youth Forum for three consecutive years, which is viewed as a platform for academic communication on international scientific frontiers and research hot spots. In 2018, the forum attracted some 200 young scholars from 20 countries and regions around the world.

Vladimir Terzija, a visiting professor from Manchester in the United Kingdom at Shandong University's School of Electrical Engineering since 2012, said that the university has very attractive talent recruitment policies.

Elected as member of a key talent program in 2014, Terzija is committed to conducting research on the prevention of power system interruption and the integration of renewable energy. "Shandong University has offered us many favorable policies and financial support for doing research and made the best use of the resources both in China and the UK," he said. In 2018, the university issued an innovative policy to expand its talent recruitment platform in the overseas market and set up eight workstations in countries such as Canada, Germany and the UK as a key step to deepen relations with world-renowned universities and educational institutes.