Vocational Education is at its Best Time, and China New Higher Education Group Achieves Fruitful Results in Quality Employment

 

Vocational Education is at its Best Time, and China New Higher Education Group Achieves Fruitful Results in Quality Employment

 

(25 April 2023 – Hong Kong) China New Higher Education Group Limited (“New Higher Education Group”, and its subsidiaries (collectively the “Group”), stock code: 2001.HK), a leading higher vocational education group is pleased to announce the interim results of the Group ended 28 February 2023.

 

Performance Highlights

 

• The Group steadfastly adheres to a “student-oriented” approach, consistently pursuing high-quality development, deepening the integration of industry and education, and comprehensively enhancing the quality of education, teaching, and talent cultivation to serve regional economic and social development. With the mission of “striving for students’ career success and happiness in life,” the Group contributes to the high-quality development of higher vocational education.

 

• The Group has persistently deepened the reform of its talent training model, leading high-quality development with exceptional talent cultivation. The Group’s schools have established strategic partnerships with renowned enterprises, creating 47 modern industry colleges, over 250 employment classes and elite classes for well-known enterprises, and more than 840 experimental and training bases. Focusing on national strategies and the pressing needs of the people’s livelihood, the Group has declared 21 new majors, such as intelligent construction engineering and infant care service and management, comprehensively enhancing the quality of talent training and accelerating the construction of the Group’s high-quality education system.

 

• The Group has achieved significant results in the establishment of advantageous majors. Currently, the Group has been awarded 14 provincial first-class undergraduate majors, 6 provincial junior college backbone major groups, 18 provincial first-class undergraduate courses, and 15 provincial quality junior college courses. Students from the Group’s schools have secured 10 national top awards in 56 top-level comprehensive competitions recognized by the Ministry of Education, representing a nearly 43% year-on-year increase.

 

• As of December 31, 2022, the employment rate for the class of 2022 graduates stood at approximately 95.6%, surpassing the national average and maintaining a high employment rate for three consecutive years. In April 2023, the Group was awarded 158 projects under the second phase of the Supply-Demand Matching Career Development Project of the Ministry of Education. Among these, Gansu School received 82 projects, ranking in the top five in China alongside prestigious “Double First-Class” universities such as Harbin Institute of Technology and Xi’an Jiaotong University.

 

• As of December 31, 2022, the proportion of high-quality employment for the class of 2022 graduates reached 22%, with the number of graduates employed in renowned companies increasing by 187%. More than 50% of nursing graduates from Yunnan School and Central China School, who practiced at the 301 General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, have been retained for employment. Since 2023, the 301 Hospital has not imposed an upper limit on the internship quota for graduates from the Group’s schools. “Good Employment” has become a distinguished hallmark of the Group.

 

 

China New Higher Education Group remains committed to its “student-oriented” education philosophy and places great importance on strengthening moral education. The Group has unwaveringly implemented a high-quality development strategy, ensuring continuous investment, prioritizing high-quality talent development, and using high-quality employment as a benchmark. Focusing on comprehensive quality development, the Group has consistently endeavored to enhance classroom teaching, integrate industry and education, foster experimental training, and create an enriching educational environment. This has led to ongoing improvements in education and teaching standards, steady progress in graduate employment quality, and an enhanced experience for both students and teachers. To this reported date, the Group’s schools are spread across various regions of China and have cumulatively cultivated approximately 400,000 applied high-quality technical talents for society. As a leader in high-quality employment, the Group’s schools have received the “Top 50 National Employment (全國就業工作50強)” award from the Ministry of Education. The employment rate of each school consistently ranks at the top across all provinces and regions, with ongoing improvements in high-quality employment rates.

 

Accelerating integration into a high-quality education system to comprehensively enhance talent development quality

 

 

The Group, adhering to a “student-oriented” approach, remains unwavering in its pursuit of high-quality development. By creasing investment in exceptional teaching standards, deepening the implementation of outcome-based education, integrating industry and education, focusing on national strategies and pressing societal needs, further developing advantageous majors, and establishing the “One Integrality, Five Dimensions, One Platform” quality assurance system, the Group propels high-quality development through top-notch talent development. “Good Employment” has become the Group’s renowned signature.

 

 

• Boosting investment in high-standard teaching to ensure high-quality development. The Group has increased the investment billion in high-standard teaching, ensuring continuous, exceptional investment for high-quality development. Regarding faculty, the Group has optimized the cost for strategic core groups and increased salaries for key positions such as teachers with advanced academic qualifications and professional titles. Besides, the input on teachers’ training has been increased and the Group also introduced the “three-teacher system” training program and upgraded the online learning platform for teaching staff, and focusing on the improvement of teaching abilities of all faculty. In terms of educational spaces, the Group has comprehensively upgraded classroom desks, chairs, smart blackboards, and other teaching equipment, as well as renovated teaching buildings and experimental and training rooms, giving campuses a fresh appearance.

 

• Deepening outcome-based education to align with trends and achieve fruitful results in high-quality talent development. The Group continues to reform its talent development model, leading high-quality development with exceptional talent training. The Group’s schools have conducted surveys by “exploring enterprises, expanding jobs, and inquiring about needs,” organizing over 2,600 teaching professionals from nearly 300 majors to “go beyond schools and enter factories.” The Group have visited top global and Chinese companies, such as JD.com, Geely Automobile, and China National Nuclear Corporation, to reverse-design and enhance talent training programs and promote curriculum reform in line with industry development trends and enterprise requirements.

 

• Distinctive and differentiated integration of industry and education to create a new ecosystem for application-oriented talent development. The Group has established strategic partnerships with well-known enterprises, building 47 modern industry colleges, over 250 employment classes and elite classes for renowned enterprises, and more than 840 experimental and training bases. The integration of industry and education in different schools is characterized by distinctive and differentiated features. The ongoing deepening of industry-education integration constantly strengthens the Group’s foundation for cultivating high-quality, application-oriented talents.

 

• Focusing on national strategies and urgent societal needs to advance the construction of advantageous majors. The Group actively responds to the “Reform Plan for the Adjustment and Optimization of Subjects and Majors Setting in General Higher Education” (《普通高等教育學科專業設置調整優化改革方案》), accelerating the adjustment and optimization of subject and major structures to promote high-quality development. The Group have introduced 21 new majors, such as intelligent construction engineering and infant care service and management, focusing on national strategies and pressing societal needs. The Group has been awarded 14 provincial first-class undergraduate majors, 6 provincial junior college backbone major groups, 18 provincial first-class undergraduate courses, and 15 provincial quality junior college courses. During this period, students from the Group’s schools have won 10 national top awards in 56 top-level comprehensive competitions recognized by the Ministry of Education, a year-on-year increase of nearly 43%. Teachers in its schools have won 2 provincial teaching achievement awards and 63 provincial or above teacher awards, including teaching skills competitions. Talent training quality has been comprehensively improved, accelerating the construction of the Group’s high-quality education system.

 

• “One Integrality, Five Dimensions, One Platform” teaching quality assurance system ensures steady improvement in teaching levels. The Group continues to strengthen and improve the quality assurance system for education and teaching, successfully building the “One Integrality, Five Dimensions, One Platform” quality assurance system. With the overall improvement of talent training quality as “One Integrality,” the system carries out teaching quality assurance, monitoring, and evaluation work across five aspects: teams, majors, courses, classrooms, and achievements, referred to as “Five Dimensions.” The construction of an information-based teaching quality monitoring and evaluation platform is called “One Platform.” Through the establishment of an “evaluation-feedback-rectification-enhancement” quality assurance closed-loop mechanism, quality standards, evaluation, and management are implemented at every stage of education and teaching, ensuring the Group’s continuous improvement in education and teaching levels.

 

High-quality employment has steadily improved as the “Three Centers” continue to make an impact

 

The Group has always prioritized employment quality as a criterion for its high-quality development. Despite the challenging employment situation and intensified competition in 2022, the Group continued implementing the employment priority strategy and strengthened the construction of three employment and entrepreneurship centers in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (the “Three Centers”). Focusing on high-quality employment, the Group developed more high-quality employment resources and enhanced graduates’ confidence and competitiveness by matching students with advantageous internship and employment positions and providing tailored employment services. As of 31 December 2022, the employment rate for the class of 2022 graduates was approximately 95.6%, higher than the national average, maintaining a high employment rate for three consecutive years. The proportion of high-quality employment for the class of 2022 graduates reached 22%, with the number of employment in famous companies increasing by 187%. All schools have achieved fruitful results in employment. Graduates from nine industrial colleges of the Group’s schools have achieved 100% employment; More than 50% of the graduates majoring in nursing in Yunnan School and Central China School who practiced in the 301 General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army have been retained for employment. Recently, the Group was awarded 158 projects under the second phase of Supply-Demand Matching Career Development Project of the Ministry of Education, of which Gansu School was awarded 82 projects, ranking top five in China, together with Harbin Institute of Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and other “Double First Class” universities.

 

 

Improving fully students’ and teachers’ experience to serve diversified success of students with a student-oriented approach

 

The Group places great importance on students’ and teachers’ experience and was the first to establish an experience management center and build an experience management platform among colleges and universities in China. This initiative continuously improves students’ and teachers’ experiences, leading to a significant increase in their satisfaction and sense of gain. During the period, the Group conducted a satisfaction survey of graduates and partner companies for the first time, covering more than 40,000 person-times. The survey results showed a satisfaction rate of 91%, with school management and the business environment praised by graduates and partner companies. At the same time, the Group has iteratively upgraded its digital management platform for students’ and teachers’ opinions, completing 183 experience improvement tasks. The Group has continued to carry out “Principal’s Reception Day”, experience forums, and other opinion solicitation activities, adopting and addressing numerous new opinions put forward by students. In terms of campus life, the Group has continued to introduce leading catering chains, added new mobile dining trucks, shared printers, and shared coffee machines to improve students’ life experience continually, resulting in a leap-forward improvement in campus business quality. In the first back-to-school season after the end of the epidemic, the Group’s schools were the first among the universities and colleges across the country to launch back-to-school “peak experience” activities, reported by CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, and other media. The Group’s experience management has become a new carrier and hallmark of “three comprehensive education,” receiving positive feedback from students and teachers and recognition from competent education authorities.

 

Group governance is maturing, further fostering exceptional school operations.

 

 

The Group persistently empowers its institutions across four aspects: resource sharing, system and process development, procurement and supply management, and risk control, to continuously advance high-quality school operations. In resource sharing, the Group consistently dispatches middle and senior management cadres to its colleges and universities, standardizes advantageous major construction standards, and replicates exemplary best practice cases. Concerning systems and processes, the Group guides eight colleges and universities to establish process reform centers via the Process Reform Department, deeply and continuously constructing core business systems and processes. Regarding procurement and supply management, the Group forms nine supplier databases across headquarters and schools, categorized to enhance recruitment and procurement efficiency while collaborating with leading enterprises to attain elevated efficiency and superior quality based on cost savings. For risk control, the Group conducts risk identification and evaluation from diverse aspects, such as investment attraction, examination and training, infrastructure construction, procurement and supply, forming a risk list database to significantly bolster risk identification capabilities.

 

 

Elevating the characteristics of a high-performing public utility stock and intensifying the “Three Sustainability” promotion.

 

 

The Group persistently fortifies the attributes of a high-performing public utility stock in Hong Kong. While maintaining stable operating performance growth, it upholds robust investment returns and ample cash flow, accompanied by a high safety margin and a high proportion of consistent dividend payouts. It has distributed cash dividends every reported period since listing.

 

 

Looking ahead, the Group will champion the “three sustainability” initiative. The Group will relentlessly pursue high-quality development, positioning itself as a long-term participant in the higher vocational education industry. The Group will continue to augment its investments and resolutely adhere to a high-quality, connotative development path supported by national policies, creating and providing educational opportunities with first-rate teaching, employment, and experiences for all students. The Group will bolster the characteristics of a top-performing public utility stock in Hong Kong, ensuring the generation of stable returns while building a higher vocational education group marked by long-term sustainability and high-quality development, ultimately achieving a win-win situation with investors in the long run. The Group will fulfill the fundamental task of reinforcing morality through education, maintaining its commitment to a student-centered approach and delivering education that meets the people’s needs. Facing new developmental stages, patterns, and opportunities in higher education, the Group will adhere to high-quality development, taking on the vision of “forging a distinguished and respected education collective” and resolutely implementing the “Cultivating virtues and educating people; Teaching students according to their aptitude; Making study serve the practical purpose ” philosophy, striving for students’ successful careers and fulfilled lives. The Group will persist in nurturing applied exceptional technical and skilled talents with innovation, practical capabilities, trustworthiness, and social responsibility, generating greater value for society and run education to the satisfaction of the people.

 

 

 

– End –

 

 

About China New Higher Education Group

 

China New Higher Education Group stands as a preeminent higher vocational education group in China, boasting over two decades of experience in the field. With a steadfast commitment to providing exceptional higher vocational education across various domains, the Group endeavors to cultivate application-oriented, applied high-quality technical and skilled talents for the nation, empowering students with superior employability and fostering fulfilling lives. As a distinguished leader in high-quality employment, the Group has earned the accolade of Top 50 National Employment from the Ministry of Education, consistently maintaining an average employment rate exceeding 95% for three consecutive years—a figure surpassing the national average. The Group’s extensive network of schools spans across provinces such as Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, and Guangxi.