On the afternoon of July 23, on behalf of Deputy Mayor Xie Hong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Municipal Government Xie Tao chaired the 2024 School-Government Work Exchange Conference in the East Meeting Room on the second floor of the Municipal Government Building. The meeting focused on improving the dynamic adjustment mechanism for disciplines and specialties in Hengyang’s higher education institutions to better align with the city's industrial and technological systems, thereby promoting integration between industry and education as well as technological innovation.

It was reported that after the city's industrial promotion conference in November 2021, higher education institutions in Hengyang have concentrated on building the province's and city's industrial and technological systems, serving the broader economic and social development needs. As a result, 25 urgently needed and scarce disciplines and specialties have been added, while redundant and ineffective ones have been discontinued or canceled. Saturated and surplus disciplines have also been restricted and reduced. Going forward, higher education institutions in Hengyang plan to apply to the Hunan Provincial Department of Education and the Ministry of Education for the addition of 27 new specialties.

The conference emphasized the need to establish an information exchange platform for urgently needed and scarce disciplines. The Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology (Industrial Chain Liaison Office) will regularly publish the "Directory of Urgently Needed Disciplines for Industrial Development in Hengyang" to higher education institutions in Hengyang, serving as an important reference for the setup of disciplines and specialties. Additionally, the conference called for the establishment of new platforms to promote industry-education integration. With the urgent needs of the city's industrial development as a guide, support will be provided for enterprises, industrial parks, and vocational and regular higher education institutions with distinctive industrial links to jointly establish industrial academies, fostering cooperative education. The meeting also discussed building an integrated professional development system that aligns with industry needs, supporting joint training between higher education institutions and secondary vocational schools to create a seamless education and training system. Furthermore, issues such as talent recruitment and public hiring, which are of concern to higher education institutions, were addressed.

Officials from six departments, including the Municipal Education Bureau, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology (Industrial Chain Liaison Office), the Municipal Finance Bureau, the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, and the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, as well as those responsible for academic affairs from higher education institutions in Hengyang, attended the meeting.

Translator: Jing