Will you be an engineer in the future?

Do whatever you want, as long as you can do it well. 6 million students, talent shortage. Reporter: At present, there are 6 million engineering students in universities in China, but according to the International Competitiveness Report of Lausanne Institute of International Management and Development, "engineering education provides qualified engineers for the market", China ranks last among 49 countries. 6 million students can't meet the market demand? Shen Jianhua (President of Shanghai Automotive Industry (Group) Corporation): Over the past five years, our group has recruited more than 6,750 fresh graduates, with an average of more than 1.3 million per year. But, you ask me, are we still short of people? My answer is, of course. We are short of senior engineers and technicians, and have a large number of enterprise backbones. With the expansion of enterprise scale and the alternation of old and new, we always have a demand for fresh graduates. They should become the backbone of enterprises, active in workshops, manufacturing processes, quality control and even sales. Shen Xiaoming (Director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission): In Shanghai, 83% of undergraduate colleges and 48% of postgraduate training colleges have engineering majors. According to the catalogue of disciplines and specialties, the coverage rate of engineering majors in undergraduate courses is 69%; The coverage rate of master of engineering training in graduate students is 88%. Generally speaking, the conditions and quality of training engineering talents in Shanghai higher education are acceptable. However, under the new situation, facing the demand of cultivating innovative engineering talents, the development of engineering education is facing new challenges. For example, China has been "emphasizing literature and light industry" since ancient times, and its technology is regarded as "carving small skills". Compared with economics, management, law and business, many parents don't want their children to choose engineering majors. Some students are eager for quick success and instant benefit, hoping to get practical benefits immediately after graduation, and are unwilling to choose engineering professional positions that require painstaking research and slow work. According to the data given by Xinhua Executive Information in 2007, among the 4.03 million college graduates in China in 2006, nearly 1 10,000 people failed to find jobs, mainly because of "escaping from the order". However, there has been a shortage of majors such as geology and mineral resources, energy and power, machinery, textile and food, and chemical industry. Mai Duff (Vice President of Hong Kong Polytechnic University): Students are afraid that the courses are too difficult, and more and more students choose liberal arts and science. This phenomenon exists not only in the mainland, but also in universities in Hong Kong, Europe and America. Now it is really obvious that people value "literature", "reason" and despise "writing". Why is this happening? Let me give you an example. In Hong Kong, the average monthly salary of ordinary engineering graduates is only HK$ 65,438+2,000 at first, but if they teach in a middle school after graduation, their monthly income is nearly HK$ 20,000. This may make some students feel that the social recognition of themselves is not high. Therefore, there will be cases where engineering graduates are unwilling to be engineers. Reporter who are busy with business and projects: excellent engineer are scarce resources in society, but why don't engineers recognize themselves? Is there a bottleneck in development? Du Xiangwan (Vice President and Academician of China Academy of Engineering): According to our comprehensive report on the growth law of high-level engineering and scientific talents in China, more than 80% of the respondents think that the social status of the current engineer profession is "average" or "low"; Satisfaction with personal income is only 53.7%; The satisfaction with the management system of scientific research organization is only 51.7%; Only 47% people are satisfied with the investment in scientific research funds and the project establishment procedures. According to the Survey Report on Public Scientific Literacy in China made by China Association for Science and Technology, among the four optional occupations, 4 1.7% people want their children to be "scientists" in the future, and 43.4% people are engaged in "medicine" occupations. Only 17.7% are "engineers". Speaking of development bottlenecks, according to our survey, the first factor affecting the growth of such talents is "busy business". The main manifestations are as follows: First, too much energy and time are devoted to project application and strive for; Second, there are too many assessment, evaluation, inspection and acceptance activities in the project, and too many inefficient non-academic meetings; Third, there are too many public relations and coordination entertainment; Fourth, there are too many evaluation, appraisal, consultation and award-winning activities unrelated to your major. Engineers and technicians believe that the main reason for "busy business" is the backward management system and mechanism, such as inefficient administrative departments, unclear departmental responsibilities and multi-head management. At the same time, the survey shows that the most lacking engineering science and technology teams in China are "relatively stable scientific research teams", "high-level tutors" and "leaders who know people and are good at their duties". Reporter: What advice do you have for engineers? Du Xiangwan: Establish a scientific and reasonable scientific and technological project management system, so that engineers don't have to spend a lot of energy on relationships, projects and various inspections. Reform the current evaluation system of scientific research achievements, let the market directly judge the advantages and disadvantages of technology, and encourage scientific and technological personnel to devote their energy to solving practical engineering problems. It is suggested to set up a national engineering science and technology development fund to support the growth of young and middle-aged engineering science and technology talents and engage in important engineering technology innovation. Relying on major scientific research, engineering projects, talent training plans, etc. To build a platform for the growth of high-level engineering and scientific talents. The education line is thick and the professional division of labor is fine. Reporter: The system needs to be improved, but as a vast number of engineering and technical talents, how can we "forge" ourselves and become an excellent person? Bao (Vice President of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd.): The contradiction between the increasingly thick education line and the increasingly fine division of professional work is increasingly prominent. Nowadays, many college students are facing the situation of re-learning when they go to enterprises, so students should have the ability of continuous learning. I keep learning through "three roads" and look for "two intersections". The so-called "three ways", one is the need to constantly update knowledge and lay a solid theoretical foundation. My previous education was junior college, and my busy work delayed many learning opportunities. A few years ago, I finished my undergraduate course in logistics, and I'm still a graduate student. Because I am in charge of science and technology, equipment and infrastructure in Shanghai Port Group, Shanghai Port is now the largest port in the world in terms of throughput and the second largest port in containers. If I don't keep on studying, I will be "drained of talents" in Jiang Lang sooner or later. Second, we must constantly expand our international horizons. Third, we need to constantly cultivate our keen professional insight and dare to question existing problems. The so-called "two intersections", one is the intersection of the latest frontier of world science and technology development and my own work. For example, electronic tags are the frontier of information development, and containers are the frontier of modern logistics development. We found the intersection of the two and developed the container electronic label system. The other is the intersection of mature international scientific and technological achievements and difficulties encountered in their own work. Shen Jianhua: In our opinion, being a good engineer is the most precious thing. In the field of engineering technology, many original technologies must not be sloppy at every step, otherwise problems will arise. This requires a very rigorous attitude, a solid foundation, and the ability to "sink" to the grassroots to learn step by step. At SAIC, we ask all new college students to go to the assembly line as soon as they arrive, and to be at least a team leader in one or two years. This is very important for individuals in any position in the future. As an enterprise, we should do a good job in ensuring and building a development platform. University-led and enterprise-led journalists: Weak hands-on ability, weak ability to solve practical problems and weak innovation ability are the evaluations of engineering graduates by many enterprises. What remedial measures do universities and enterprises have? Li Yongsheng (Executive Vice President of Tongji University): The main breakthrough of scientific and technological innovation in the new era lies in the interdisciplinary part, which is integrated innovation. Carnegie Mellon University in the United States cooperates with teachers and students majoring in engineering and art to carry out scientific and technological activities, and some scientific research projects are even undertaken by artists. This form is worth learning from. Engineering colleges should not only develop engineering education, but also strive to develop humanities and art education, which is the general trend. McFODA: What we advocate is Sino-foreign cooperation. Why? Engineering and design are closely related, and design will produce completely different effects due to the difference of time and space. The same engineering design may be successful in Hong Kong, but the acquisition in the western part of the mainland or abroad may be a failure. We hope that students can understand this, and the project needs to be placed in a certain cultural background and viewed from a developmental perspective. Sino-foreign cooperation can broaden students' horizons and guide innovative thinking. Let everyone know that science is not simply right or wrong, but there are many possibilities. Wang Hong (President of Shanghai University of Engineering Science): Everyone says that engineering technology is hard, so young people don't want to do it. We think the key is to make young people realize the close relationship between engineering technology and urban development, and give birth to the idea of transforming society from the inside out. With this passion, how can it be "hard"? In our school, the advanced engineering training center is the "first stop" to build future engineers. Realistic subway train model, simulating airplane cabin ... For 18-year-old young people, this may be the first time to realize that the development of engineering technology has such a close relationship with our city. Next, from academic leaders to CEOs of well-known enterprises, the development prospects of automobile, aviation, rail transit and other industries are introduced in turn, so that students feel that they have the "first chance" ... Reporter: Industry-University-Research Alliance is a shortcut to train engineering talents. How to jointly promote universities and enterprises? Xia Jianguo (Party Secretary of shanghai dianji university): In cooperation with enterprises, colleges and universities should put down their airs and take the initiative to "attack". Recently, a group of young teachers in our school left school and went to the enterprise to do 1 year full-time temporary training. Their salaries and bonuses at school are not small, and they also have allowances. The school hopes that these teachers can better "feed back" education through their experiences in enterprises. At present, our school has carried out all-round cooperation with 25 national or municipal technology centers in this city and established long-term cooperative relations with more than 600 enterprises. Not long ago, we awarded 1 1 Industry-University-Research excellent cooperation unit. Some corporate executives said with emotion: "In the past, only companies sponsored universities, and it was the first time that universities gave bonuses to enterprises." Xu Jianguo (Party Secretary and Chairman of Shanghai Electric (Group) Co., Ltd.): In cooperation with universities, Shanghai Electric Group made a preliminary exploration in this respect. The topics of the first batch of doctoral dissertations published not long ago, such as "Calculation and research on excitation current of a million kilowatt quadrupole generator under no-load and full load", are all led by academicians and doctoral supervisors in colleges and universities, and the professor-level senior engineer of Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd. is the second. This attempt is conducive to integrating scientific and technological resources, organically combining the key direction of discipline research in colleges and universities with the technological innovation of enterprise groups, cultivating a new generation of high-end talents, and effectively changing the state of "enterprises are struggling to find problems, and colleges and universities are rushing around to find topics".