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Speech by National People's Congress Representative Yu Miaojie on Empowering New Quality Productivity and Highlighting the New Responsibility of Universities



The Report on the Work of the Government this year proposes to coordinate the construction of a strong education, science and technology, and talent-oriented country, deploying and implementing the integration of innovation chains, industry chains, funding chains, and talent chains, and deepening comprehensive reforms in education, science, and technology talent to provide strong impetus for modernization construction. Yu Miaojie, President of Liaoning University, said in an interview with our reporter that as the intersection of education, science, and talent, universities bear the mission of assisting the development of new productive forces in the era and have unique advantages in promoting the formation of new productive forces. Especially in the universities in the Northeast region, they should focus on the major strategic needs of writing a new chapter of comprehensive revitalization, and deeply consider how to answer the new proposition of “forging new productive forces, what universities should do”.

“What to do” and “how to do it” are the two basic issues which we should mainly comprehend in regard of the development of new quality productive forces in university services. Representative Yu Miaojie explained that what universities need to do is comprehending the two key elements of talent and technological innovation firmly, as well as empowering the forging of new quality productive forces.

Disciplines are the leading force in the development of universities, and they are also a prerequisite for nurturing new quality productive forces in universities. Representative Yu Miaojie stated that the level of discipline construction determines the direction and potential of universities to serve new quality productive forces. In order to achieve the goal of industrial structure adjustment, we should focus on renovating and upgrading the time-honored brands, deep development of the well-known brands and the strengthening the start-up brands. We should also focus on the practical needs of supplementing, extending, and upgrading the industrial chain, and adjust and optimize the disciplinary layout in a targeted manner to enrich the soil for the development of new productive forces. Liaoning University has a complete range of disciplines, which can fully meet the needs of industrial transformation and upgrading as well as industrial chain layout in Northeast China, thus better adapting to the development needs of new quality productivity in Northeast China. Especially as one of the "Double First Class" university, Liaoning University closely focuses on serving the national major strategy and high-quality development of regional economy to condense its disciplinary direction, and strives to build high-end think tank platforms such as the China Economic Research Institute and the New Structural Economics Research Center, shaping the vitality of the economy of northeastern part of China.

The core of new quality productivity lies in the improvement of total factor productivity, namely technological advancement and technological innovation. Representative Yu Miaojie said that from the perspective of basic research, universities need to continuously enhance their original innovation capabilities, vigorously promote organized scientific research, strengthen scientific and technological innovation, especially original and disruptive technological innovation, to actively assist high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement. The development of new quality productive forces should focus on strengthening production, academia, research and application, and improve industrial technology level and additional value of a product by promoting sustained and intensive technological progress. Liaoning University persists in the orientation of real problems, continuously strives to improve the level of innovation platforms and enhance innovation foundation capabilities, as well as actively creates a source of technological innovation. Deepen the fosterage of major basic research projects and other key projects, and focus on solving major, prominent, and critical problems in the construction of a modern industrial system with Northeast China characteristics.

Universities are not only high grounds of innovation, but also gathering places of talent. Representative Yu Miaojie stated that the first step is to effectively enhance the ability of training men for profession and achieve effective supply of talents. We should be focusing on industrial structure and development needs, continuously optimizing professional layout, continuously improving the matching degree between talent supply and enterprise demand, to cultivate more professional talents urgently needed for the development of new quality productivity. Also, we should vigorously strengthen the selection and cultivation of top innovative talents in basic disciplines and support graduate students to participate in major scientific research tasks, also foster more innovative talents to strengthen the reserve of strategic scientific and technological talents in key fields. Secondly, it is necessary to effectively leverage the role of talent aggregation and achieve high-quality supply of talents. Activating talent resources requires joint efforts from the government and universities. From the perspective of the government, it is necessary to rationalize the institutional mechanisms for attracting talents to work in Northeast China, also encourage and support college graduates and high-end talents to revitalize Northeast China through pre funding and special funding. The relevant systems and regulations should be improved and perfected. Talents who intend to work in Northeast China shall not be deliberately obstructed or detained in any form. Attracting and making talents settled down through favorable tax treatment and other policies, unleashing a new dividend in improving population quality. From the perspective of universities, we should make good use of policies and take the opportunities to vigorously strengthen the high-end talent pool. Both sides work together to promote the full circulation of talent elements and provide a source of development for new quality productive forces with fresh blood of talent from time to time. Representative Yu Miaojie introduced that Liaoning University adheres to the combination of attracting talents and cultivating talents. It has attracted a large number of senior scholars in professional fields and outstanding young talents from home and abroad to gather at Liaoning University. At the same time, we explored the potential in depth within the university, and a group of outstanding talents led by CAE Member and members of the International Economic Association gathered in Liaoning University, settled down in the Northeast China, and enabled the Northeast China to revitalize. When talking about further strengthening the role of talent pool, representative Yu Miaojie stated that Liaoning University will continue to promote the strategy of building a strong university with talents and to improve the guarantee mechanism for talent services as well as to create a strong talent pool. Liaoning University will make every effort to build an innovation platform and a new attractive area for professionals’ development, also to provide robust talent support for the development of new quality productivity.