There are more than 5 million STEM graduates every year, leading the world! (Understand the new advantages of China’s economy②)
Recently, these two sets of data have attracted attention at home and abroad——
Over 5 million, this is the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates in China every year, leading the world.
About 50%, which is the global proportion of top artificial intelligence (AI) researchers trained by Chinese universities according to statistics from international think tanks, ranking first in the world.
Behind the data is China’s development advantage from “demographic dividend” to “talent dividend”. After years of hard work, the average number of years of education for the working-age population in China has increased to 11.05 years, and the total number of human resources, scientific and technological human resources, and R&D personnel all rank first in the world. These have strongly supported scientific and technological innovation and promoted industrial transformation and upgrading. , giving the world's second largest economy more confidence for development.
scale--
The total number of human resources reaches 220 million people
At the end of March, Professor Liu Liming's work pace became tighter. As a doctoral supervisor at Jiangnan University, he is busy guiding three doctoral graduates to revise and publish their papers. In three months, they will go to work and enter the field of bioengineering to engage in related work.
"In the past few years, I have supervised 17 doctoral students who have graduated. Most of them have now become professionals in their units and have participated in and completed a number of major projects such as microbial cell factories and biocatalysis of pharmaceutical intermediates." Liu Liming said, With strong support from the state and the school, doctoral graduates have greater room for development. In September this year, the new campus of Jiangnan University will be put into use, and talent training will be stepped up in areas such as integrated circuits, intelligent manufacturing, and digital technology.
In the field of STEM, although the proportion of doctoral graduates is small, it has always been regarded as an important talent resource that leads research and development in related fields. An analysis by Georgetown University in the United States pointed out that the number of STEM doctoral graduates from Chinese universities has increased significantly over the past 10 years, and it is expected that by 2025, its size will be approximately twice that of the United States.
Based on talent, the primary resource, China continues to promote the construction of an educational power, regards STEM education as the key to cultivating innovative and versatile talents, continuously strengthens the development and utilization of human resources, and has made many new progresses.
Looking at investment changes, China's human capital investment has grown steadily. From 2012 to 2022, national fiscal education funding increased from 2.2 trillion yuan to 4.85 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth of 8.23%. In 2022, the country's total investment in education will exceed 6 trillion yuan for the first time, 2.21 times that of 2012.
Looking at the level of education, China’s working-age population is nearly 900 million, and the average number of years of education for the newly added workforce has risen to 14 years. There are 3,074 colleges and universities in the country, with a total enrollment of 47.6319 million students in various forms of higher education. In 2023, master's degree enrollment in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine will account for 60%, and doctoral enrollment will account for more than 80%.
Looking at the scale of talent, China has become a country with the largest and most complete range of human resources in the world, with a total of 220 million human resources. The total number of skilled workers exceeds 200 million, of which more than 60 million are highly skilled talents.
The Korean media "Aju Korea Daily" recently published an article stating that labor efficiency is a more important factor for economic development. At present, the average years of education of China's working-age population has increased significantly compared with the past, and high-quality labor resources are increasing year by year. The so-called decline in China's birth rate will lower the economic growth rate is untenable. In fact, China is forming a unique advantage and a new engine for economic growth.
effect--
Increased contribution to economic growth
What can the continuous accumulation of human capital bring?
Relevant research shows that for late-developing countries, the human capital formed by the number of highly sophisticated talents, the overall quality of talents, and the innovation vitality of talents can have an efficiency-multiplying effect on achieving leapfrog development. Fortunately, such positive effects have begun to appear in China.
The momentum of technological innovation has become stronger——
From the development of China's first quantum computer measurement and control system to the first quantum computer operating system, to the first quantum chip design software... Guo Guoping, deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has led the R&D team in quantum computing research in recent years. Breakthroughs have been made one after another, helping China become the third country in the world with the ability to deliver complete quantum computers. At the beginning of this year, Guo Guoping's team made another breakthrough: China's third-generation independent superconducting quantum computer "Origin Wukong" developed was online and open to the global public for free for a limited time, marking the basic completion of China's independent superconducting quantum computer industry chain.
Currently, China has more than 6 million R&D personnel, ranking first in the world, and its R&D investment has ranked second in the world for many consecutive years. Japan's "Nikkei Asia" website commented that those who hold a pessimistic view of China's economy have ignored the innovation capabilities that China has vigorously cultivated. China's continued increase in investment in innovation will help improve productivity and achieve long-term, sustainable economic growth.
Industrial development has become more innovative——
Artificial intelligence is a popular "new favorite" in current industrial development: joining hands with finance to optimize customer service operations; entering the workshop to shorten factory product delivery cycles; joining hands with medicine to accelerate the research and development of new drugs... At present, the scale of China's core artificial intelligence industries continues to grow. Growth, the number of companies exceeds 4,400, and the large artificial intelligence models developed are widely used in smart mines, drug research and development, finance, intelligent manufacturing and other fields. CCID Consulting's research report predicts that the adoption rate of generative artificial intelligence among Chinese enterprises will reach approximately 85% in 2035.
Regarding the development of China's artificial intelligence industry and the talent support behind it, the New York Times reported that China has become the world's number one in cultivating cutting-edge artificial intelligence talents. The report cited the latest research from the McCropolo think tank in the United States. Judging from the undergraduate institutions of origin, Chinese universities have trained almost half of the world's top artificial intelligence researchers. In comparison, only about 18% of researchers are from American universities. Three years ago, the proportions of the two were 29% and 20% respectively. "One of the reasons for the change is that China has increased investment in artificial intelligence education."
From potential advantages to actual productivity, the accumulation and transformation of human capital is injecting strong impetus into the high-quality development of China's economy: According to World Bank estimates, the contribution rate of China's human capital to economic growth continues to rise and currently exceeds 36%.
Gather——
The international community is optimistic about China's human capital potential
The effect of continuous accumulation of human capital is reflected in domestic economic development and also in the accumulation of international resources.
In Shanghai, a new international institution is currently accelerating its establishment - the International STEM Education Institute. This is the 10th Category 1 center established by UNESCO in the world and its first global Category 1 center outside Europe and the United States. The center fully demonstrates the international community’s recognition of China’s STEM talent cultivation.
"The International STEM Education Institute is an important result of the cooperation between China and UNESCO." Qin Changwei, Secretary-General of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, said that the International STEM Education Institute is conducive to China's improvement of the quality of scientific and technological innovation talent cultivation, and is also conducive to China's cooperation with UNESCO. The international community shares STEM education concepts and practices and contributes Chinese wisdom and strength to the development of global education.
According to Xia Zehan, Director of the UNESCO East Asia Multi-Sector Regional Office, STEM education is the core of innovation and can promote economic growth and development and respond to global challenges. The Category I center to be established in Shanghai is not only an educational institution, but also a beacon of hope.
Optimizing China's human capital potential and sharing China's "talent dividend" have become the choices of more and more international institutions and enterprises.
With an average of less than 2 months to carry out one R&D investment, the multinational enterprise Schneider Electric Group has launched a "high-speed" mode in China over the past year. Yin Zheng, executive vice president of Schneider Electric, said that Schneider Electric’s R&D investment in China has been increasing in recent years. Since last year, it has successively established the “Digital Power Distribution China R&D Center”, “Key Power Supply Innovation Laboratory”, “China Research Institute Automation R&D Center” and “AI Innovation Laboratory", "Air Circuit Breaker Innovation Capability Center" and other R&D institutions. At present, China has become one of Schneider Electric's four major R&D bases in the world.
Why are you constantly expanding your R&D presence in China? China's talent advantage is a key factor. Yin Zheng said that Schneider Electric continues to strengthen its local innovation team. In the past three years, China's R&D personnel have increased by 30% and now exceed 2,000 people. "We will further strengthen our R&D strength in China and establish more R&D institutions to support China with innovation." Create new-quality productive forces and continuously export more 'Chinese wisdom' to the world."
Jiang Hao, global partner of Roland Berger Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd. and vice president of Greater China, believes that in recent years, the pace of foreign investment in deploying R&D centers in China has accelerated significantly, which not only provides strong technical support for multinational companies themselves, but also promotes Technological upgrading and innovative development of Chinese local enterprises. "From this, we can see that China's accumulation of a large number of excellent management talents and engineer resources is an advantage that other emerging countries cannot replace. Foreign investors have taken a fancy to this and have stepped up efforts to build R&D centers in China." Jiang Hao said.
Just like what Apple CEO Tim Cook said during his recent trip to China: China’s talent pool is amazing and he “is optimistic about the Chinese market. Everything is possible here.”
Reporter Qiu Haifeng
(People's Daily Overseas Edition)