Zhejiang Daily Praises Longquan Secondary Vocational School: Let’s See What It’s About
Since ancient times, Longquan has been a place of thriving culture and humanity, renowned far and wide for its swords and celadon. Longquan Secondary Vocational School is located in this national historical and cultural city. Rooted in the local characteristic industries, the school has steadily advanced school-enterprise cooperation and the integration of industry and education, built new platforms for school-enterprise collaboration, and supported the development of local characteristic industries through its advantageous majors such as sword craftsmanship, celadon craftsmanship, and auto parts processing.
In 2005, with the support of governments at all levels, Longquan Secondary Vocational School, Longquan Vocational Senior High School, and Longquan Teachers’ Training School merged to form the new Longquan Secondary Vocational School. "After the merger, the school completed the integration of resources in terms of scale, providing a basic guarantee for its expansion and development," said Zeng Guojian, principal of the school. The school has successively been rated as a National Key Secondary Vocational School, a National Moral Education Experimental Base for Secondary Vocational Education, an Excellent School of the 4th National Huang Yanpei Vocational Education Awards, one of the first batch of national vocational colleges designated as demonstration sites for the inheritance and innovation of ethnic culture, and a Tier-1 Secondary Vocational School of Zhejiang Province.
Boasting one "famous school" title, three "famous teachers" in key positions, and three "famous majors" with unique features, Longquan Secondary Vocational School has achieved a "grand slam" in the "Three Famous" Project during the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Secondary Vocational Education in Zhejiang Province, making it a shining star among secondary vocational colleges in the province.
"Introducing Enterprises into Campus" to Build a New Platform for Students’ Skill Learning
"Based on industries to develop majors, and develop majors well to promote industries" is the school-running philosophy that Zeng Guojian emphasizes repeatedly. In December 2016, Longquan Secondary Vocational School established a cooperative relationship with Zhejiang Jiang’s Swords, setting up a Jiang’s Swords on-campus workshop. This workshop achieves seamless connection with the enterprise’s job positions and production processes, enabling productive teaching practice on campus. It enhances students’ practical abilities as well as their innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities, and cultivates practical skilled talents for the sword industry.
It is a common sight in the on-campus workshop to see students wearing "Jiang’s Swords" work clothes, holding carving knives, and concentrating on their work. "Previously, I didn’t know much about Longquan swords. After being taught by the masters, I feel proud to be engaged in the work of intangible cultural heritage inheritance, and I believe that hard work will pay off," said a student who was working.
"In the past, people in our trade worked quite hard, and now young people are generally unwilling to take up this job. Even within our enterprise, the problem of an aging workforce is very serious, with no new blood coming in," said Jiang Xiaowu, general manager of Jiang’s Swords, voicing his true thoughts. To stimulate students’ enthusiasm for learning and strengthen their determination to engage in the sword industry, Jiang’s Swords has also set up a special scholarship to reward outstanding students. "Although setting up the scholarship will increase the enterprise’s expenses, we have the responsibility and obligation to do our bit to inspire students’ enthusiasm," Jiang added.
Source: Longquan on the Palm
