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Innovation Course Given in Innovative Way

Campus

Taking Tianjin University’s course of “Entrepreneurship Training” means that you can not only attend lectures given by CEOs of listed companies, but also have a field trip to the companies and get invited for a big meal, where you can discuss over their commercial plans and business philosophies.

Jointly developed by Xuanhuai College, Academic Affairs Office, TJU Alumni Association and Peiyang Malus Fund, this long-expected course was opened at the beginning of this semester,and soon became a hit for its student-centered course design, the creative form of class giving and rich course content, attracting over one thousand students to attend and join the discussion online and offline.

Quite different from the traditional “sit-by-desk” lectures, this entrepreneurship training course puts students at the center, while successful entrepreneurs with rich experience in starting up businesses serve as lecturers and teachers as assistants.

The lecturer will lead students to go out of campus and head for companies founded by TJU alumni in various industries and fields. Implementing the teaching philosophy of integrating theory with practice, students are put a real commercial environment and have trainings in eight aspects, including self-cognition, opportunity discovery, team building, product improvement, commercial model argument, financing technique, business planning and case analysis. The new model allows students to develop the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, and prepare them for future pioneering work in relevant fields.

“We have to make a lot of choices in our life. A As for me, when choosing the path to the future, I tend to step onto the most daunting one, which for its challenging nature may be less competitive,” said Li Shoujun, Chairman and CEO of Ringpu, a biotechnology company in Tianjin, in the first class of the course. He shared his startup story and experience with students both online and offline, and invited them to do a field research in his factories.

According to He Yongjun, General Manager of the Peiyang Malus Fund and one of the course designers, entrepreneurship training courses are key to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at Tianjin University. Most of the course is designed to be off campus practice. It enables students to have first-hand experience in start-ups varying from internet, manufacturing and service industry in a brand-new way and get connected with listed company founders and experienced entrepreneurs. It is worth mentioning that several initiators of the Peiyang Malus Fund are among the first batch of course lecturers.

“How much was the first-year revenue and profit? And how much is current profit?” “How to manage the disagreements among partners”“On what premise do you think you will be No.1 in domestic market in 2021?”Students posed all kinds of penetrating questions in offline classes or by way of online bullet comments and discussion groups. Straight questions got straight answers. The invisible “wall” between lecturers and students brought by their class roles melted away and the whole class livened up.

“Students are the most valuable assets for the university. Our Entrepreneurship Training course is student-oriented and in the best interest of students’ development. In future, we will further improve the layout of innovation and entrepreneurship courses and cultivate more innovative talents.” Gong Jinlong, vice-president of Tianjin University remarked.

By Ren Xiangyun

Editor: Eva Yin