The city with a GDP approaching the 2-trillion-yuan mark has explicitly designated three universities for support.
On August 6, the People's Government of Ningbo Municipality released three action plans in one day to support the development of three local universities, namely the Action Plan on Supporting the Construction of Ningbo University of Engineering as a First-class Innovative Application-oriented University, the Action Plan on Supporting the Construction of Zhejiang Wanli University as a First-class Application-oriented University, and the Action Plan on Supporting the Construction of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China as a High-level Sino-foreign Cooperative University in the New Era.
According to the long-term goals for 2035 specified in the action plans, Ningbo University of Engineering will fully develop three high-level systems of disciplines and specialties, application-oriented talent cultivation, and industrial technology innovation that are adapted to Ningbo's modern industrial system, become a key engine supporting the construction of Ningbo as a modern coastal metropolis and a pioneer city for common prosperity, and build itself into a domestically top-tier local innovative application-oriented university with distinct engineering characteristics;
Zhejiang Wanli University will deeply integrate with regional economic and social development, rank among the top domestic application-oriented universities in terms of comprehensive strength, and basically build a high-level application-oriented university that is first-class in China and well-known internationally; the University of Nottingham Ningbo China will take the lead among all Sino-foreign cooperative universities in China in overall school-running strength, build a high-level talent cultivation base and international science and technology innovation source hub rooted in the region, serving the country and connecting the world, and become a benchmark for high-level Sino-foreign cooperative universities.
For a long time, higher education has been regarded as the core path for the formation of human capital, and the role of human capital in promoting the economy has reached a global consensus. However, different from provincial capitals and municipalities directly under the central government that have inherent advantages in science, education and resources, most economically strong cities are relying on "acquired efforts" to make up for their shortcomings.
Local officials in Ningbo once said frankly that the weak strength of scientific and technological innovation and the insufficient number of high-level universities have long been the bottleneck restricting Ningbo's high-quality development. Especially at present, scientific and technological innovation has become a key variable in urban development, and the lack of science and education resources and major innovation platforms has increasingly become a prominent shortboard restricting Ningbo's development.
In recent years, Ningbo has taken continuous major actions in the construction of universities, and one of the landmark achievements is the Ningbo Eastern Institute of Technology, which was inaugurated last November. According to the official website of Ningbo Eastern Institute of Technology, it is a new type of research-oriented university with a high starting point, small but refined scale, research orientation and international vision, run by social forces, supported by the state with priority, and jointly built by the provincial and municipal governments.
From the perspective of regional development, to improve the level of higher education is ultimately to enhance the contribution of universities to scientific and technological innovation, so as to support and serve the high-quality development of local industries. Taking the Eastern Institute of Technology as an example, the six cutting-edge fields the university focuses on, including artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, new energy and new materials, are highly consistent with Ningbo's "361" trillion-level industrial clusters.
Not only Ningbo, but also the whole Zhejiang Province, the construction of higher education has become one of the key development priorities during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. During his first research visit at the beginning of this year, the leading official of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee focused on the "Double First-Class 196 Project", visited multiple sites and held a symposium. Zhejiang's 15th Five-Year Plan further clarifies that it will enhance the overall efficiency of the innovation system and build a globally influential science and technology innovation highland. Among them, "deepening the integrated reform and development of education, science and technology, and talents" is placed in a prominent position.
For cities in the province, this is also an opportunity not to be missed. In March this year, Wang Cheng, Secretary of the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee, visited the School of Software Technology of Zhejiang University, Ningbo International Science and Technology Innovation Center and the University of Nottingham Ningbo China to conduct a special investigation on the integrated work of education, science and technology and talents. Wang Cheng emphasized that efforts should be made to enhance the capacity of innovation source cultivation, continuously optimize the settings of university majors in line with the needs of industrial development, and promote the universities in Ningbo to have more focused development directions, more distinct characteristics and more prominent advantages through the "one university, one policy" mechanism.
Specifically, among the three universities supported by the "one university, one policy" mechanism this time, Zhejiang Wanli University is a provincial ordinary undergraduate university with a 76-year history of running schools; the predecessor of Ningbo University of Engineering is Ningbo College, the first engineering-dominated university in Ningbo; the University of Nottingham Ningbo China is the first Sino-foreign cooperative university in China approved by the Ministry of Education with independent legal person status and independent campus.
Since the beginning of this year, Ningbo has repeatedly made it clear that it will "build a key fulcrum of the Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta) International Science and Technology Innovation Center and strive to be a national demonstration zone for new industrialization". In accordance with the action plans released this time, the three universities will make concerted efforts and provide differentiated support around these two main priorities ——
Ningbo University of Engineering will take improving school-running capacity and optimizing service efficiency as the core path, and strive to build dual highlands of regional high-quality application-oriented talent cultivation and industrial technology innovation; Zhejiang Wanli University will receive full support to build a first-class application-oriented university, providing talent support and intellectual support for the above objectives; the University of Nottingham Ningbo China will give full play to the characteristics of international school-running, fully release the advantages of international school-running characteristics, and strive to become a benchmark for high-level Sino-foreign cooperative universities.
This article is from the WeChat Official Account "City Evolution", written by Yang Huan, and published with authorization from 36Kr.