CCG Co-hosts Annual “China Talent 50” Roundtable Forum to Discuss Further Talent Development System Reform

The Roundtable Forum and “Development and Prospect” Roundtable Forum are held on Dec. 17, 2016, as a joint effort of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and the Institute of Development Studies at the Southwest University of Finance and Economics (SUFE). Over 50 scholars, government officials and business executives are invited to the discussion about China’s talent development system reform, with a focus on the changes to talent introduction policies and talent cultivation strategy for China’s western region.

The “China Talent 50”receives wide attention as President Xi Jinping-led government has rolled out over 100 policies and guidelines that emphasize the importance of national talent development strategies.  Attendees to the forum includes He Xian, former Minister of Human Resources and Social Security and President of China Talent Research Institute; Wang Xiaochu, former Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security and Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress; and Wu Jiang, Executive Vice President of China Talent Research Institute.

Wu Jiang pointed out that President Xi has called to further open up to the outside world and an open talent development policy is required to meet this goal. Mr. Wu identifies major changes to talent introduction policies by far, such as the effort of talent introduction driven mostly by market force. Currently, more policies are put in place not just to introduce talents but also make them integrate in the society and play to their full potential. In addition, there have been more international cooperation platforms and joint research institutes established to facilitate talent introduction.

With regard to the overseas talent introduction, Zhao Dewu, Secretary of CPC Party Committee at the Southwest University of Finance and Economics, shares his experience, including creating more channels for talent recruitment and building talent pool in innovative ways. By far, SUFE has introduced five experts of “Thousand Talents Program” (a talent recruitment program established to recruit senior-level university professors and researchers to China), nine returned overseas Chinese scholars as heads of schools, and nearly 500 scholars who obtained doctorate in China or abroad.

However, higher education institutions in China’s West are still facing mounting challenges and rising competition in talent recruitment and development, such as the lack of funding and key scientific research facilities. SUFE’s Vice President Shi Daimin suggests establishing more talent cultivation and recruitment platforms and allocating more funds for the western region development to talent development. At local level, he calls on the government to delegate more power to higher education institutions to cooperate with industry to employ more innovation in talent public service system.

He Xian proposes to build Sichuan, particularly Chengdu, as a high-tech talent cultivation hub, which does not only serve the province but also the entire southwestern region.

Wang Huiyao, CCG President, SUFE’s President and Founding President of China Global Talent Society, highlights talent development as an important element in the 13 Five-Year Plan and Sichuan government’s guidance on accelerating innovation and transformation-driven development.

Moving on, Wang Xiaochu emphasizes the need to find more solutions to improve talent development system to make it more motivational and adjusted to the economic new normal. He also talks the issue of legislations for talent development.

“China Talent 50” Roundtable Forum is a regular event dedicated to the study of talent development strategy and focused on the key issues and challenges in China’s talent system reform. It is aimed at building connections between academic, business and public policy-making community. Every forum will invite about 50 participants from research institutes, government agencies and companies to provide their insights and ideas regarding how to improve talent development strategy and establish talent study theories.

The “Development and Prospect” Roundtable Forum, organized by the Institute of Development Studies at the Southwest University of Finance and Economics, is a platform for the university to engage other prestigious Chinese and international higher education and research institutions, social organizations and government agencies in the discussion about current affairs.