Bi Tianshu: Integration and Symbioses to Promote School-Enterprise Collaborative Education
The "15-th Five-Year" Plan outline proposes promoting the deep integration of scientific-technological innovation and industrial innovation. As a vital force in building a leading country in education, industry-specific universities urgently need to deepen school-enterprise synergistic education. By highlighting distinctive school-running characteristics and enhancing operational capacities through the integration of industry and education, and the convergence of science and education, they can truly realize the deep integration of the education chain, talent chain, industrial chain, and innovation chain, thereby providing human resource support for the construction of a powerful nation.
The Value Significance of Deepening School-Enterprise Synergistic Education
From the implementation of major strategies for high-quality development to the improvement of quality and upgrading of industries, and further to the "Double First-Class" construction [1] of universities—by taking school-enterprise synergistic education as the key link for value alignment—we can construct an organic community. This community, led by the construction of a leading country in education and aimed at high-quality development, involves the deep interaction and mutual support of national strategic development, industrial upgrading, and university "Double First-Class" construction, thereby strengthening the support and contribution of higher education to national development.
Sharing missions to anchor the strategic orientation of a leading country in education. In building a leading country in education, higher education plays a leading and pioneering role. Its core mission lies in cultivating socialist builders and successors with an all-around development in ethics, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor [2], providing comprehensive support for high-quality economic and social development. The quality improvement and upgrading of industry is the key handle for promoting high-quality development and, moreover, an important practical setting for the construction of a leading country in education. The effectiveness of a leading country in education must ultimately be reflected in the actual results of serving industrial development and guaranteeing national strategies. As universities are the main battlefield for talent cultivation and the source of scientific-technological innovation, and leading enterprises serve as the "chain leaders" [3] of the industrial chain, both parties must jointly anchor the responsibility goals of high-quality development and form a synergistic mechanism of shared missions. By constructing a closed-loop system of "national strategy—industrial demand—school-enterprise synergy—talent supply," we can achieve the precise docking and deep integration of talent cultivation and scientific research innovation with national strategies, making synergistic education the core support for serving major national strategies and allowing higher education to truly become the talent engine for national development.
Aligning responsibilities to clarify the practical path for a leading country in education. Along with the accelerated evolution of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, all industries have entered a critical stage of quality improvement and upgrading. Issues such as the application of emerging technologies and the reconstruction of industrial systems urgently require technological breakthroughs and talent support; this presents a realistic proposition and broadens the practical path for building a leading country in education. The traditional talent cultivation model, characterized by a decoupling of theory and practice, can no longer adapt to market demands under the new situation. There is an urgent need to align with industrial demands, deepen school-enterprise synergistic education mechanisms, and form a virtuous cycle where "industrial demand drives talent cultivation, and talent cultivation supports industrial upgrading." Universities must integrate frontier industrial dynamics, technological bottleneck requirements, and professional practice standards into the entire process of education. Through joint scientific research, the co-construction of platforms, and the joint formation of teams, they should cultivate high-quality talents who possess both theoretical depth and practical ability, achieving precise docking between talent supply and industrial demand so that the construction of a leading country in education takes root in industrial practice and serves realistic needs.
Walking together in development to solidify the school-running support for a leading country in education. The "Double First-Class" construction in universities is the core carrier for building a leading country in education. The key lies in whether a university has the ability to deeply bind its school-running characteristics with the requirements of a leading country in education and resonate at the same frequency as industrial development. School-enterprise synergistic education has become a key handle for optimizing disciplinary structures, improving faculty standards, and enhancing scientific research strength. Through deep cooperation with industry-leading enterprises, universities can accurately grasp industrial trends, adjust the layout of disciplines and majors, and promote the extension of traditional advantageous disciplines into emerging fields. Relying on corporate resources to enhance teachers' engineering practice capabilities and the targeted nature of scientific research, universities can transform corporate needs into research topics and educational carriers. This achieves a bidirectional empowerment of scientific research results and talent cultivation, strengthens students' practical abilities and innovative spirit through synergy, and cultivates more industry leaders and young scientific-technological talents who meet the requirements of building a leading country in education, ensuring that "Double First-Class" construction becomes a solid support for the quest to lead in education.
Concept Reconstruction of School-Enterprise Synergistic Education
Along with the changes of the times and the development of industrial practice, advancing with the times by updating educational concepts is the cognitive precursor for continuously deepening school-enterprise synergistic education. Both schools and enterprises need to use forward-looking vision, systems thinking, and a sense of innovation to break down synergistic barriers and pool the bidirectional educational forces of the talent and industrial ends.
Establish the concept of strategic synergy with forward-looking long-term layouts. We must abandon short-term behaviors such as "project-based cooperation" or "order-based recruitment" [4] and instead construct deep cooperative relationships based on long-term strategic consensus. Establish multi-level, normalized communication and coordination mechanisms to promote the escalation of school-enterprise cooperation from fragmented project docking to comprehensive strategic synergy. Both schools and enterprises should achieve a high degree of alignment in development goals, resource allocation, talent cultivation, and scientific research innovation, focusing on frontier fields that represent the future development of the industry to carry out joint breakthroughs and talent reserves, constructing a long-term mechanism of "shared responsibility, shared benefits, and shared risks."
Establish the concept of integrated symbiosis to build a systematic ecosystem. We must resolve problems in traditional school-enterprise cooperation, such as "the school is hot while the enterprise is cold" [5] and the fragmentation of resources. By establishing the concept of "integrated symbiosis," schools and enterprises should be viewed as an interdependent organic whole. Break down barriers in systems and mechanisms, resource flows, and personnel mobility to achieve "shared faculty, interconnected resources, and shared results." Corporate experts should enter campuses to participate in teaching and serve as mentors, while university teachers should go deep into enterprises to participate in project practice. Scientific research platforms should be open to enterprises, and production bases should become internship and training sites. The results of joint scientific research should both serve industrial upgrading and be transformed into educational resources, creating a synergistic effect where "one plus one is greater than two."
Establish the concept of innovation-driven development to co-create multi-dimensional value. With innovation at the core, we must move away from the mindset of "adaptive cultivation" and instead establish a "leading cultivation" orientation. In talent cultivation, we should build a system that "emphasizes foundations, values practice, strengthens ability, and seeks innovation," fostering innovative literacy through project-driven tasks, research integration, and practical combat training. In scientific research cooperation, we should focus on "chokepoint" [6] technical problems, assemble cross-disciplinary teams, and explore task-based research management models. In mechanism construction, we should innovate models such as "Party building + business" and "international cooperation" to inject continuous impetus into synergistic education. This not only meets the current needs of the industry but also leads its future development.
Practical Directions for Deepening School-Enterprise Synergistic Education
By adhering to a future-oriented and practice-based approach, we must coordinate the needs of national strategy, industrial development, and university construction. We should deeply promote the all-around leap of the educational system, cooperation patterns, and value pursuits, providing a path reference for deepening school-enterprise synergistic education and boosting the construction of a leading country in education.
The transformation of the educational system: from "discipline-oriented" to "strategic-demand-oriented." Industry-specific universities should transcend traditional disciplinary frameworks and revolve around national strategies and industrial upgrading needs to construct a disciplinary system with industrial characteristics. They should expand into emerging disciplinary directions and form an integrated educational system spanning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. The educational system should achieve a triple transformation: first, the cultivation goal should shift from "qualified professional talent" to "strategic innovative talent," emphasizing national sentiment and strategic vision; second, the curriculum system should be transformed from being guided by disciplinary knowledge to being guided by industrial capacity, integrating actual cases and technical standards; third, the cultivation path should shift from "theory + internship" to an integration of "theory—training—combat—incubation," promoting the deep integration of talent cultivation with industrial innovation and national strategy, guiding students to achieve the unity of knowledge and action [7], to reach a comprehensive understanding, and to apply what they have learned.
The upgrading of cooperation patterns: from "single-point cooperation" to "ecosystem-based synergy." Industry-specific universities must break through the limitations of "point-to-point" cooperation and construct an ecosystem-based synergy pattern covering the entire industrial chain. Build core cooperation platforms and establish multi-level cooperation systems with industry leaders, local backbone enterprises, and scientific research institutes. This involves diversifying the subjects of cooperation to form an educational community with multi-party participation; ensuring all-encompassing cooperation fields that cover the entire chain of talent cultivation, scientific research breakthroughs, achievement transformation, and faculty building; and systematizing cooperation mechanisms by establishing long-term mechanisms for strategic docking, resource sharing, benefit distribution, and assessment and evaluation. This promotes the upgrade of synergistic education from project cooperation to the co-construction of an industrial ecosystem, making the integration of industry and education a vital ecological support for building a leading country in education.
The sublimation of value pursuits: from "serving the industry" to "leading national competitiveness." Industry-specific universities should focus on the core goal of building a leading country in education, serve high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and promote the upgrading of the value pursuit of synergistic education. In terms of technological innovation, they should jointly tackle core technologies, pushing core industrial technologies to lead the world and providing technological support and practical scenarios for building a leading country in education. In terms of outputting standards, relying on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road," they should promote the "going out" of advantageous technologies and standards, enhancing international discourse power and participation in rule-making within industrial fields, thereby demonstrating the cultural soft power and industrial influence of a leading country in education. In terms of talent reserves, they should cultivate internationalized professional talents who are proficient in international rules and possess a global perspective, providing support for enterprises to participate in global competition and for the country to enhance its core competitiveness. This ensures that synergistic education becomes an important carrier for enhancing national core competitiveness and solidifying the foundation of a leading country in education, allowing higher education to realize its proper value in serving the overall situation of national development.