He Yiting: The Foundational and Strategic Support for Chinese-path Modernization
Education, technology, and talent constitute the foundational and strategic support for Chinese-path modernization—an important thesis proposed in the Resolution of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. This thesis demonstrates that in the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country, education is the foundation, technology is the key, and talent is the root. Technological innovation relies on talent, and talent cultivation relies on education; the integrated promotion of the development of education, technology, and talent is the crucial path for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Education is the Strategic Support for Chinese-path Modernization
Education is the primary force driving the progress of human civilization. The modernization process of human society has always been closely linked with the development and modernization of education. In contemporary China, educational modernization is both a vital component of and a significant driver for Chinese-path modernization. No other endeavor affects or determines the issue of "successors" [1], the long-term stability of the state, and national rejuvenation and the rise of the country quite like education does. Building a leading country in education is a pioneering task and the solid foundation for realizing the great cause of national rejuvenation and building a strong country through Chinese-path modernization.
Since the New Era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has insisted on regarding education as a matter of great significance for the state and the Party. Persisting in the priority development of education, the Committee made the major decision to accelerate educational modernization and build a leading country in education. It has strengthened the Party’s comprehensive leadership over educational work and continuously advanced the reform of educational systems and mechanisms. Consequently, the cause of education has achieved historic successes and undergone structural changes. Our country has built the world’s largest educational system, and the overall level of educational modernization has entered the ranks of upper-middle-income countries, providing a powerful force for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Building a leading country in education by 2035 is the general goal for educational reform and development at present and for the period ahead. While China’s educational cause has achieved world-renowned successes, the leap from a "large country in education" to a "leading country in education" [2] remains a long and arduous task; we must further deepen comprehensive educational reform. According to the requirements of the Resolution, deepening comprehensive educational reform must focus on the fundamental task of "fostering virtue through education" (lì dé shù rén), centering on cultivating socialist builders and successors with an all-round development in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor skills, and unswervingly following the path of socialist educational development with Chinese characteristics.
We must accelerate the construction of a high-quality educational system, coordinately promoting reforms in nurturing methods, schooling models, management systems, and guarantee mechanisms to promote educational equity and improve educational quality. We must focus on improving the quality of autonomous talent cultivation, optimize the layout of higher education, and accelerate the construction of Chinese-characteristic, world-class universities and advantageous disciplines. We should establish a mechanism for adjusting discipline settings and talent cultivation models driven by technological development and national strategic needs. This involves an unconventional layout for urgently needed disciplines, implementing the "Strong Base Plan" [3] and the "Top-notch Student Training Program" for basic disciplines, and continuously advancing the reform of "Excellent Engineer" education to cultivate national strategic talent and personnel in urgent shortage with a clear objective. We must rationally arrange educational levels, types, and patterns based on national development needs, making good use of selection mechanisms to meet the needs of all fronts and fields for various types of talent. We must persist in the effective utilization of world-class educational resources and innovation elements to advance high-level educational opening-up.
Technological Modernization is the Key to Chinese-path Modernization
Technological progress is the primary driver for the modernization of human society and profoundly changes the pattern of world development. In the 18th century, major inventions such as the steam engine brought about the first Industrial Revolution, initiating the modernization process of human society and realizing the shift from traditional agricultural society to industrial society. In the 19th century, science and technology advanced by leaps and bounds, catalyzing the second Industrial Revolution—the shift from mechanization to electrification—and driving industrialization and urbanization to higher levels and broader fields. Since the end of the 20th century, driven by the invention and widespread application of computers and the Internet, social and economic development has undergone a profound transformation toward informatization and digitalization.
Both history and reality show that every technological revolution is accompanied by a massive leap in the level of social productive forces. Scientific and technological innovation has become the key factor determining the rise and fall of nations and a crucial variable affecting and changing the world economic map. Whoever can occupy the commanding heights of technology can take the lead in modernization. Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth, and global technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity. The technological revolution and the "great power game" [4] are intertwined; high-tech fields have become the forefront and main battlefield of international competition, profoundly reshaping the global order and development pattern.
Chinese-path modernization must rely on technological modernization for support, and achieving high-quality development must rely on technological innovation to nurture new kinetic energy. Since the New Era, China has deeply promoted the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, proposed the strategic task of accelerating the construction of an innovative country, and determined the strategic goal of building a leading country in science and technology by 2035. We have continuously deepened the reform of the science and technology system, fully stimulating the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of scientific and technical personnel. We have vigorously promoted high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening; basic research and original innovation have been continuously strengthened, breakthroughs have been achieved in some key core technologies, and major innovative results have emerged in succession. China has entered the ranks of innovative countries.
At the same time, shortcomings and weaknesses remain, such as relatively weak original innovation capabilities, dependence on others for some key core technologies, and a shortage of top-tier technological talent. We must further deepen the reform of the science and technology system, increase the intensity of technological innovation, and seize the commanding heights of technological competition and future development. Anchoring the strategic goal of becoming a technological power by 2035, we must persist in the "Four Orientations" [5], strengthen the construction of national strategic technological forces, and optimize the positioning and layout of national research institutions, high-level research universities, and leading technological enterprises. We must coordinately strengthen the tackling of key core technologies and promote the systematization, institutionalization, and coordination of technological innovation forces, factor allocation, and talent teams. We should improve the management of science and technology plans, reinforcing forward-looking and leading layouts in basic research, frontier cross-disciplinary fields, and key sectors. We must strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation and establish mechanisms to cultivate and strengthen leading technological enterprises. We must enhance "organized basic research," encourage high-risk, high-value basic research, and promote the continuous emergence of original and disruptive technological innovations to nurture the new kinetic energy for developing new quality productive forces.
Talent is the Strategic Resource for Chinese-path Modernization
Talent is an important index for measuring a country's comprehensive national strength; it is the foundation of a strong nation, the basis of competition, the necessity for transformation, and the source of vitality. Competition in comprehensive national strength in today's world is, in the final analysis, the competition for talent. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "The entire history of technology proves that whoever possesses first-class innovative talent and first-class scientists can occupy the advantage in technological innovation." As the most active, dynamic, and creative factor of production, talent is the cornerstone of innovation; innovation-driven development is, in essence, talent-driven development. Achieving high-quality development and high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening ultimately depends on high-level innovative talent. Only by accelerating the implementation of the strategy of strengthening the nation through talent and "gathering the world’s best minds to use them" [6] can we seize the initiative, win the opportunity, and gain the advantage in the fierce new round of global innovation competition.
Since the New Era, the Party and the state have vigorously promoted the rapid growth of the talent pool, the continuous enhancement of talent efficacy, and the steady increase of talent's comparative advantages. The supporting role of talent in advancing Chinese-path modernization is unprecedented. China has become the world’s largest talent resource country with the most complete categories. At the same time, we must see that structural contradictions in China's talent pool are prominent; the lack of precision in talent policies, the rigidity of talent development systems, and the imperfection of talent evaluation systems restrict the high-quality development of talent and affect the overall efficacy of the national innovation system.
In doing talent work on the New Journey, we must deepen the reform of systems and mechanisms for talent development. We must eliminate institutional obstacles in talent cultivation, utilization, evaluation, service, support, and incentives. This includes breaking the "Four Onlys" [7] phenomenon, delegating power to employers, and "untying the hands" of talent to transform our institutional advantages into advantages in talent and technological competition. The fundamental strategy for talent work is to accelerate the formation of cultivation mechanisms favorable to talent growth, utilization mechanisms favorable to making the best use of everyone’s talents, incentive mechanisms favorable to allowing talent to showcase their abilities, and competitive mechanisms favorable to allowing talent to stand out.
Guided by the requirements of the Resolution, we must implement more proactive, open, and effective talent policies, improve the mechanism for autonomous talent cultivation, and accelerate the construction of national high-level talent hubs and platforms for attracting and gathering talent. We must accelerate the construction of national strategic talent forces, focusing on cultivating and creating strategic scientists, first-class technological leaders, and innovative teams, as well as cultivating卓越工程师 (excellent engineers), "Great Country Craftsmen" (dà guó gòng jiàng), and high-skilled talent to improve the quality of all types of personnel. We must improve mechanisms for the orderly flow of talent, enhance mechanisms for the discovery, selection, and cultivation of young innovative talent, and perfect the system that ensures researchers can focus on their research. We must strengthen talent incentive mechanisms and establish a talent evaluation system guided by innovation capability, quality, actual results, and contribution, providing a favorable environment for all types of talent to display their brilliance and grow competitively.
Coordinately Promoting the Integrated Reform of Education, Technology, and Talent Systems
Education is the important cornerstone of national rejuvenation and technological progress; technology is the foundation of national strength and the necessity for security; and talent is the strategic resource for winning the initiative in the competition amidst the "profound changes unseen in a century" [8]. Education, technology, and talent are intrinsically consistent and mutually supportive. The Resolution emphasizes the coordinated promotion of the integrated reform of systems and mechanisms for education, technology, and talent. This deepens our systematic understanding of the "trinity" of these three elements and represents a deepening and development of the successful practice of comprehensively deepening reform since the New Era. On the New Journey, we must better coordinate the integrated development of education, technology, and talent: using high-level education to cultivate high-quality talent, using high-quality talent to promote the realization of high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and using high-level technology to support and lead high-quality economic development. This will continuously enhance China's core competitiveness in talent and technological competition, providing more powerful talent support, intellectual assistance, and innovation drive for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
To coordinately promote this integrated reform, we must persist in systems thinking and a problem-oriented approach. We must ensure the organic connection and deep integration of reforms in all three areas, using integrated thinking to plan and integrated measures to systematically advance educational development, technological innovation, and talent cultivation, creating a powerful synergy for Chinese-path modernization. For common problems faced by all three sectors, we must conduct integrated research, decision-making, and deployment to clear bottlenecks and obstacles, facilitating their collaborative force and building an integrated development pattern of talent cultivation, scientific research, achievement transformation, and scientific evaluation.
To coordinately promote this integrated reform, we must help enhance the overall efficacy of the national innovation system. We must leverage the advantages of the "new-type whole-of-nation system," [9] strengthening the coordination of strategic planning, policy measures, major tasks, scientific research forces, resource platforms, and regional innovation. We must build a collaborative and efficient decision-making and command system and an organization and implementation system, integrating social resources to pool a strong force for technological innovation. Persisting in innovation-led development, we must strengthen the deployment of the entire chain and the layout of all fields of technological innovation, building a technical innovation system, knowledge innovation system, national defense science and technology innovation system, regional innovation system, and science and technology intermediary service system to enhance the overall efficacy of the national innovation system.
To coordinately promote this integrated reform, we must persist in nurturing an innovation culture. An innovation culture that respects science, encourages exploration, advocates innovation, and tolerates failure is an important force for promoting social progress. The innovative development of education, technology, and talent work cannot do without the nourishment of an innovation culture. Innovation, especially technological innovation, is an exploratory and creative practice; we must emancipate the mind and dare to "discard the old and create the new" (gé gù dǐng xīn). The history of world technology shows that those great scientific discoveries and inventions that profoundly influenced the development of human society were all born on the basis of doubt and criticism. The Resolution made strategic deployments for building systems and mechanisms that support comprehensive innovation, fully reflecting the clear orientation of promoting innovation and development through reform. By persisting in nurturing an innovation culture, inheriting the innovative genes of excellent traditional Chinese culture, and creating a favorable environment that encourages exploration and tolerates failure, we will make the valuing of science and pursuit of innovation a common practice in society, helping Chinese-path modernization "travel steadily and reach far" [10].
Source: Study Times (Xuéxí Shíbào) January 22, 2025 Online Editor: Huihui