University aims to be engine for auto talent

Engineering students conduct experiments at Hefei University of Technology in Anhui province. The university, established in 1945 and located about 400 km northwest of Shanghai, is a leading institution of engineering and electronics in China. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

A university in central China's Anhui province is striving to build itself into a cradle of automobile talent for the world's largest vehicle market, experts said.

"This university supplied more than one-fourth of the medium- and high-level staff in technology and management positions in all the automobile companies in China. It's the best among all the Chinese auto training institutions. We are kind of the cradle of China's auto talent," Zhao Han, vice-president of Hefei University of Technology and a standing director of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

The university, established in 1945 and located about 400 km northwest of Shanghai, is a leading institution of engineering and electronics in China. It includes 19 schools and dozens of research centers.

As of this year, the staff totaled 3,604 and registered students reached 39,940, including 1,023 pursuing doctoral degrees.

"The university, in some sense, is the cradle of China's auto talent, as it played a very important role in training China's auto talent. Many auto engineers in our auto industry came from the university," said Wang Dongsheng, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd.

He added that the company was still hiring "advanced talent in the design sector" from overseas, including Germany and Japan, at high salaries.

China has a number of universities and colleges that offer auto training, including Tsinghua University, Jilin University of Technology, Tongji University and Beijing Institute of Technology.

Graduates of these institutes were apt to pursue further study abroad or take research and teaching jobs in universities, said Zhang Daisheng, chief of the university's School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering.

"The position of the university is very clear. In the past, we trained engineers. Now we aim at providing talent for big enterprises in China's auto industry. Training and education focus on innovation and hands-on skills of the students," Zhao said.

He added that China's supply gap of auto talent remains "very big" , and "high-end talent" is much in demand.

"We surely have a big chasm compared with leading auto institutes abroad. Staff rewards at the university are not attractive to high-end teachers and professors.

"The management system is also unfavorable to the free flow of auto staff," Zhao said.

Huang Kang, vice-dean of the university's School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, added that vehicle enterprises abroad are willing to accept interns from universities, while Chinese companies are reluctant to do so for fear of losing corporate secrets.

China is the world's largest auto market, though the era of explosive growth, with rates of more than 20 percent annually, may come to an end this year, according to Zhao. While foreign brands are competing fiercely for a larger share, local brands are still thriving.

Consumers in November bought 1.7 million sedans, sport utility vehicles and other passenger vehicles, a rise of 16 percent from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

The first 11 months of this year saw China's sales increase 15.1 percent year-on-year to 16.15 million.

"As China's per capita gross domestic product is expected to double in the coming years, families will have greater demand for sedans. China's huge market has drawn the world's best automakers, and they remarkably outweigh us in management, culture and technology, which means a lot of pressure for us.

"But own-brand automakers in China have more opportunities than risks, as long as we keep improving quality and technology," said Xiang Xingchu, general manager of JAC Motors.