Wang Jie talks with confidence. But just a year ago, the third-year student at Qinghai University for Nationalities in Northwest China's Qinghai Province was shy and unsure of himself.

Wang, who came from an impoverished family in minority regions in Southwest China' Guizhou Province, is a beneficiary of the Pathways to Higher Education (PHE), a programme initiated by the Ford Foundation, partnering with Hewlett-Packard, to aid poor students in western regions of China.

Previously, charity programmes largely focused on financial aid in China. Now, PHE aims to enhance university students' and graduates' skills in the fields of thinking, management, communication and negotiation in order to upgrade their chances in winning national and international postgraduate scholarships as well as obtaining better jobs.

"In fact, the biggest difficulty facing poor students like me is that we always feel helpless mentally," says Wang. "Most of us have a strong sense of self-abasement."

That attitude doesn't bode well when entering the job market. A large number of graduates from impoverished families fail in interviews when job-hunting. The reason is simple: most flush or become speechless due to a lack of confidence. Shyness has become rooted in their personalities, and short training just days before graduation does not help. For minorities such as Wang, there are also language barriers .

Such hurdles are easily taken for granted by affluent families. But for most poor students, lack of confidence can be a real stumbling block. Given the ever-rising unemployment rate in China, especially for graduates, a student with self-abasement issues may have a hard time finding work.

Funding change

To help fix this problem, Ford Foundation made donations to the PHE programme. HP contributed hardware ranging from computers, printers, scanners and projectors worth 320,000 yuan (US$40,506) to Qinghai University for Nationalities.

The university used the facility to launch two IT (information technology) training and service centres with Wang taking a management role. More than 60 per cent of the management staff members are poor students. They operate the centre independently and teach computer literacy to other poor students for free.

The best part of the programme is that it helps improve students' management skills and build their confidence, according to Arthur Wei, regional general manager of North China and director of Corporate Marketing & Communications at HP's China operations.

Wang and his team are now involved in several management processes such as project planning and procurement. Wang specializes in PR (public relation) activities, taking charge of promoting the PHE programme on campus and mobilizing poor students. He has taken a role in introducing the PHE programme to visitors, journalists and inspectors from the Ford Foundation, which has significantly improved his eloquence.

In recent years, HP has donated more than 250 million yuan (US$31.65 million) in China and has launched several programmes such as scholarships in leading universities.

But after talking to Ford Foundation, HP found it needed to diversify the ways it aids poor college students.

"We needed a mindse t change," says Wei. "Shall we give poor students only fish or a tool to fish as well?"

Before donations, HP issued "tender" to 17 communities at 10 universities in China. Poor students from these communities worked out and submitted plans and projects detailing how they would better use the donations and how to aid other poor students as much as possible.

Finally 10 communities at seven universities received donations from HP worth 1.6 million yuan (US$200,000). Students who won the projects manage those facilities.

"Working out these plans and projects themselves helps improve poor students' skills," says Wei, adding that winning keys for those projects finally approved by HP are "consistency, maturity and sustainability."

Independent workers

Encouraged by HP, students have developed many ways to help themselves as well as other poor students. For instance, they post information related to job-hunting and employment on the Web at the computer training centre, and conduct remote interviews via Web cameras for graduates and companies and institutions in hiring.

They are also allowed to make profits besides providing free services to other poor students. "Neither HP nor universities interfere with the operations. They are allowed to post losses or even go bust," says Wei. "The only thing we want is for them to accumulate experience to improve survival skills after graduation."

Ma Deming, director of the Students' Affairs division at Qinghai University for Nationalities, heralds the PHE-HP programme as an innovation in charity programmes.

The university has more than 6,000 students, nearly half of whom are from impoverished families in which each family member earns less than 1,300 yuan (US$162.5) annually on average. A significant number of students are from mountainous regions and pasturing areas and live on around 30 yuan per month (US$3.8).

Besides necessary financial help, what poor students need most are survival skills after graduation, notes Ma. Computer literacy, communications' skills, and confidence are key.

In China, most companies and institutions no longer get involved in specific projects after making donations. In some cases, such donations are embezzled. HP partnered with Ford Foundation and hired the third party to monitor and assess the entire process of the PHE programme with full-time staff.

"We need to ensure all the donations go to those who need the help most and ensure we can help effectively train talents and improve poor students' skills," Wei says.