Colleges urged to train more 'green' professionals
- Source: Global Times
- [02:12 March 11 2010]
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By Yin Hang
China is urging colleges to offer more majors in environmental science and low carbon economics to prepare students for the "green" jobs of tomorrow.
The goal is to cultivate new industry professionals for the strategic environmental development demands of the future in the country.
In a recent announcement, the Ministry of Education encouraged universities across the country to accelerate undergraduate education reform with new courses and teaching methods.
The ministry suggested that "green" majors be added to the undergraduate curriculum.
"In order to intensify efforts on cultivating professionals in fields such as the Internet, green economy, low-carbon economy, environmental protection technology, bio-medical and other majors for strategic new industries, the ministry encourages universities to offer new majors related to the strategic new industry," read the announcement.
The ministry said all the new major applications, assessments and approval procedures should be finished before the end of this April.
The announcement did not elaborate on what constitutes a " strategic new industry" but said it pertained to future en-vironmental construction and human life.
Industries such as new energy resources, new materials, information technology, agriculture, medical science, exploring outer space, oceanic and earth exploration are all listed as branches of the strategic new industry.
In recent years, a growing number of voices have been calling for the ministry to curb the ballooning enrollments in several majors including law and management, which were blamed for the large number of graduates unable to find work in a job market swarmed by highly-educated graduates from law schools and business colleges.
It is estimated that China will need to find jobs for more than 7 million college graduates in 2010, including fresh graduates and recent graduates who are still unemployed, Zhong Binglin, CPPCC member and president of Beijing Normal University, told a news conference Wednesday during the top political advisory body's annual session.
"Universities should better cultivate their students and strengthen their career guidance for university graduates." Zhong said.
