At the National Talent Conference on May 25-26 in Beijing, Geely's talent innovation model received approval among the participants, who regard it as a successful example of how to increase enterprise development and speed business transformation.

For Geely, "talented people and innovation have played a crucial role in Geely's history," said Li Shufu, chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd.

From the establishment of technician schools in earlier times to the foundation of universities later, Geely has developed a unique training model, which provides talent for the company's steady development.

Due to its excellent performance, Geely was chosen to deliver a report at the conference, which distributed as a manual copy to participants, including leaders from central government.

The National Talent Conference this year is the second ever, with the first conference held in 2003. The conference also encourages companies to train talented individuals that can meet both the needs of society and employers. In addition, the conference aims to encourage talented people to come to China.

It is also the first time for Geely to promote its training model at such a conference.

Another first for the company is when the Beijing Geely University became the host of the 48th University Games for Beijing-located universities on May 15. This is the first time for a private university to hold such games in China.

Chen Fangming, director of Geely's News Center, said the company is currently preparing for two events. One is a job fair, which will attract over 100 domestic and international companies, including over 20 Fortune 500 companies, coming to recruit students. The other is the launch of a 30 million yuan venture capital fund next month when Beijing Geely University celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Education

Since the establishment of the company in 1986, Geely has been involved in several sectors from manufacturing refrigerator parts, to building materials and motorbikes.

In the first half of 1995, Geely decided to enter the auto industry.

After changing from one sector to another frequently in the past years, the problem of how Geely would realize a sustainable development was a key worry for company directors.

The Geely group concluded that the essence of smooth overall development for a company is sustainable innovation providing a constant stream of ideas for progress, which comes from a group of talented people.

Li Shufu decided to establish Geely's own schools to educate and train people who would meet Geely's needs for the company's development in the auto industry.

At the end of 1990s, Geely established professional schools including Zhejiang Geely Technician Institute and Zhejiang Geely Automobile Industry School.

With Geely's development in the auto industry, the company built Beijing Geely University, Hainan Geely Sanya College, and Zhejiang Automotive Engineering Institute in Hangzhou.

Geely has developed a complete education system covering qualifications for vocational school graduates, undergraduates, postgraduates and doctors. The company also has a postdoctoral research station.

To date, more than 40,000 students attend Geely invested schools and universities. Geely's education is now an important supplement to the country's education system.

Unique training model

Geely has invested great efforts in training students since it turned to the auto industry, which has proved to be efficient for the company's development.

When Geely started to establish schools, Li Shufu said: "Geely is not going to train people to build the atomic bomb but to educate talents to manufacture vehicles. This is what we should insist on all the time."

Therefore, Li said: "entering into the Geely campus to get education here helps better serve society."

At present, Geely has developed its exclusive education system, which will meet the needs of society and the employers who will recruit Geely's students.

Geely's education system is not duplicated by anyone else in the auto industry.

The important aspect of the training model is to develop individuals according to the actual needs of the development of society and the needs of a position or occupation, which is quite different from usual exam-oriented education.

In line with the government work report on education reform, Geely will go on with its talent and innovation strategy to train more excellent people to better serve the country's development, Chen hoped.

Campus view of Beijing Geely University.

(China Daily 05/27/2010 page12)