Source: China Science Report 2014-3-20 Han Kun
“I feel that the job really suits me well. I was born for this job.” XING Xiaoying told the reporter frankly with an earnest look.
“This is really different from companies. Tsinghua provides us with the opportunity to learn and to improve ourselves.” ZHAO Meng concluded. He is a new practical tutor who has just joined the Fundamental Industry Training Center. Prior to joining Tsinghua, he had worked in a factory for some time. If everything goes well, XING Xiaoying is going to be ZHAO Meng’s colleague after getting his graduation certificate in June.
A total of 11 preliminary tutors, including XING Xiaoying, have been recruited to join the Training Center for internship, who came from Shaanxi Polytechnic Institute and Beijing Institute of Industrial Technicians. They provide practical tutoring to the most outstanding undergraduates across the nation at the Fundamental Industry Training Center.
Suitable Fresh Force
It sounds unimaginable that vocational college graduates provide practical tutoring to students of Tsinghua, a world-renowned university. LI Shenglu, the general secretary of CPC branch of the Fundamental Industry Training Center, told the reporter that the Center started recruiting in 1998 graduates from Tianjin University of Technology and Education to work as practical tutors and has been doing so ever since on and off.
So what are the specific tasks for these practical tutors to perform? And what are the requirements for this position?
According to Associate Professor HONG Liang, Deputy Director of the Center, who is familiar with the management and training here, the Center primarily undertakes practical training tasks for undergraduates at the University. The two major courses Mechanical Manufacturing Practice and Electronic Technology Practice alone are offered to students from nearly 30 majors of approximately 20 schools and departments of the university including the School of Mechanical Engineering, the School of Information Science and Technology, the School of Sciences, the School of Environment, the Department of Electrical Engineering, the Department of Engineering Physics, the Department of Chemical Engineering, the School of Materials Science and Engineering, the Department of Medicine and so on with nearly 2,600 students annually accepted to take on training at the center and a total workload of approximately 300,000 man-hours. The laboratory research courses offered by the Center are selected by more than 1,500 students each year. The Center’s innovation laboratory engages nearly 8,000 students each year in SRT projects and a number of multi-discipline competitions at Tsinghua University such as the electronic system design competition, the mechanical innovation design competition, the students’ comprehensive ability in engineering competition, the virtual instrument competition, the smart car competition, the hardware design competition and so on.
Practical tutors shall not only be qualified to undertake the teaching tasks according to the University syllabus and teaching plans, conducting experimental teaching, creating experimental teaching programs, developing teaching material such as experimental guidebooks and textbooks and preparing experiments, but also be able to demonstrate the operation of machine tools and equipment during practical teaching sessions and to guide students through the process of completing their required training activities. In short, this is a role that requires not only a certain level of professional knowledge of theories but also strong hands-on abilities as well as communication skills.
The reason the Center recruits these young vocational college graduates is simply for their overall qualities suitable for this position. These recruited vocational college students generally have strong hands-on abilities and skills that meet the teaching requirements of practical teaching courses at the Center; and having gone through the Center’s well-prepared pre-job training and strict operation assessment, they are fully qualified for the job.
“This is a decision made by the Center taking consideration of some challenges facing its team building.” LI Shuangshou, Director of the Center, told the reporter that Tsinghua University has been, since the early days of its establishment, placing great importance on practical teaching and training students for their hands-on ability . From the records, in 1922, Tsinghua University began building a “Handwork Classroom” in the Civil Engineering Pavilion as a place for students’ to take up technical practice. It was completed in September of the same year and began accepting students for basic training in woodwork and metalwork. The time that the Classroom was build has been acknowledged by later generations as the the time of the founding of Tsinghua University Machinery Factory, the predecessor of today’s Fundamental Industry Training Center.
“Today, the Center’s practical tutors team is facing peak natural retirement, with 23 people due to retire over the next two years. To stabilize teaching performance and ensure teaching quality, we need these young and dynamic emerging forces to take over.” said LI Shenglu.
At the large workshop of the Fundamental Industry Training Center, the reporter saw the Center’s evaluation table for practical tutors. HONG Liang told our reporter that in addition to normal tests and assessment of practical tutors, the Center also conducts a comprehensive appraisal through students voting and recommendations. For more than a decade, the performance of vocational college students recruited here has been highly praised by students.
Work from Campus to Campus
“In the beginning, I was still having stage fright,” said WANG Jiaojiao frankly –also a post practical intern herself.
“I did prepare well and remembered explanations of all steps and all sections of teaching; but when it came to lecture time, I did not perform as perfectly as I had imagined.” WANG Jiaojiao smiled and continued, “Fortunately, it was not bad as I got used to it after a few more classes.
“Master” is the key word mentioned by WANG Jiaojiao repeatedly during the interview. The so-called masters are the senior tutors of the center. They can be referred to as mentors for these post-practice students.
Before officially tutoring students, WANG Jiaojiao and others are all required to first give a test lecture before the masters and to be approved by the Center’s Teaching Quality Assurance Team. When WANG Jiaojiao is tutoring students, the master is always present. After tutoring session, the master gives necessary additions to Wang Jiaojiao’s performance and further guidance for the problems that might have been raised in class, including how to answer students’ questions during tutoring. The master will always impart such skills without reservation.
In addition to the master, WANG Jiaojiao is also pleased to be getting along with the students. Once after class, she found a student’s question especially amusing. She was asked: “Should I call you master, teacher or elder sister? You look younger than I am.” Hearing this, she could not help laughing out loud with a heartfelt rising sense of pride.
XING Xiaoying particularly enjoys her current life as a tutor. Studying in a vocational college, she thought she could only find work in a factory – the most common employment situation with her seniors. However, joining Tsinghua as a practical tutor for undergraduates is an unexpected opportunity, helping her realize that she is still capable of fulfilling such a revered position.
Stage fright, forgetting lines, blanking out and situations likewise described by others have never happened to XING Xiaoying. She can’t help being emotional for her ease at tutoring, “I feel that the job suits me to the dot. I was born for this job” said XING Xiaoying with confidence. Here, both masters and students trust her and such trust pleases her.
Today, XING Xiaoying and her young colleagues live on Tsinghua University campus. They can attend other courses at the Center and also stroll along campus in spare time. They attend lectures and activities that interest them. Although this is their work place, it still feels very much like campus.
Space for Growth through Constant Learning
LI Shenglu told our reporter that over ten years ago, the Center, when recruiting practical tutors, would also help them with their ‘hukou’ issue. However, due to the tightening of policies, the Center now can provides only a formal employment contract to them besides encouraging them to learn more skills or to pursue higher degrees and academic qualifications.
RONG Jian, office director of the Center, told our reporter that when recruiting, they would select outstanding students recommended by their schools and a considerable number of them are Party members. Since they come here to work, the Center also hopes, and even encourages them, to utilize the resources of the Center, and even of Tsinghua, to improve themselves and to advance themselves. The Center encourages them to learn more and to acquire multiple skills, hoping to become multi-talented individuals with special expertise.
GAO Dangxun has been with the Training Center for 7 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2009 and a technician’s certificate last year. In his opinion, the greatest advantage of this job lies in its soft power that provides him with an opportunity for further learning and advanced studies – such a learning atmosphere cannot be found in any of the companies or factories.
MA Yun, who has worked at the Center for three years, has a slightly different idea from Gao Dangxun. He believes that he must first strive to do his job well, keep fulfilling himself within Tsinghua University’s unique learning environment and bring benefit to students while improving himself at the same time. If circumstances change in the future and if he no longer practices tutoring, the knowledge that he has acquired in Tsinghua may also play an important role in other industries.
For WANG Jiaojiao and others who are still in the middle of post practical internship, their ideas are still quite simple right now: they hope that everything goes well and they will do a good job in their positions.
In fact, regarding what this group of young people would like to do later, or if they continue to stay in this position, etc., RONG Jian said: the Center certainly hoped they would play a stable role in their positions, but if they were unable to keep up with the increasing requirements for this position, or if they felt that they would have more suitable jobs, the Center would not impose any restrictions on them, and would encourage reasonable brain drain.
RONG Jian said: “Everyone has their own circumstance and different considerations at different stages of their lives. Regardless of their plans and development in the future, the Center hopes that they can make good use of this platform to train and improve themselves.”
