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Mabel Sieh




[Sponsored article]
Whenever Professor Huang Xu of Hong Kong Baptist University talks to company executives about the recruitment challenges they face, he often hears the same comment: university graduates fail to meet their employee requirements.
As programme director of the university’s master of science in business management (MScBM) programme, Huang has been hearing the same complaint from companies in Hong Kong and mainland China for the past 15 years.
The primary school and secondary school [training] focus [is] on discipline … they focus on [teaching students] how to follow, how to comply, rather than how to be creative
Professor Huang Xu, Hong Kong Baptist University
There seems to be a mismatch in what has been taught at universities and what is required in the real world. So Huang looked at the issue more closely to find out what companies’ hiring managers really want when searching for new employees.

“They have to be proactive, creative and have a strong desire to learn,” Huang says he has been told. “Also, they have to be open to challenges, to new knowledge.”
He says today’s employers are not looking for people with the right “skill set”, since these skills can all be taught in training programmes.
Why students’ caring, community spirit is even more important now in Hong Kong’s current political climate
Instead, companies want to recruit people with the right “mindset” and, most importantly, the right “attitude”.
Huang says: “They said, ‘Skills are not important; we can train them. We can train them to do bookkeeping … how to write reports and ways of doing presentations …
You cannot be intelligent or creative without being exposed to diverse knowledge, context and culture. We send them to the US and Europe to force them to [see] different cultures [and] different ways of running [a] business
Professor Huang Xu
“‘But the mindset, the way of doing things and the attitudes need to be trained … we want people with a good mentality, a positive view [in facing] challenges and being more open to new things and learning’.”
He says university graduates can have many skills, yet still lack resilience or the ability to interact with other people. So, they find they cannot cope at work when trying to deal with difficult relationships or ever-changing challenges.
Education has ‘wrong focus’
The problem lies in having an education system that for more than a decade has failed to train students in line with the needs of the modern world, Huang says.
“The primary school and secondary school [training] focus [is] on discipline,” he says. “They focus on [teaching students] how to follow, how to comply, rather than how to be creative.”
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This particular focus of training has left the minds of many Hong Kong students too passive for far too long.
“When students come to university, they’re already [aged] 18 to 20; it’s hard to change their mentality,” Huang says.

This has led to university students from Hong Kong tending to be less assertive in class compared with those from the United States and Europe.
This is where Baptist University’s MScBM programme comes in – providing the right training for what is needed in the real world and helping to shape the ideal employees for companies.
“We want the whole programme to integrate the real-world experience with great theoretical thinking,” Huang says. “In most undergraduate programmes, students don’t have this kind of access to industry.”

To make learning “real and solid”, the programme has been designed to allow students to be taught by people with first-hand business experiences and insights.
“One-third of the teaching staff are retired senior executives, or part-time [practitioners],” Huang says. “So they really bring the real-world problems and experience to the class.”
[Businesses want to recruit graduates that are] proactive, creative and have a strong desire to learn … with a good mentality, a positive view [about facing] challenges and more openness to new things and learning
Professor Huang Xu
‘Real world’ experience
Compulsory field trips are another key component for students to ensure they “see the real world”.
Every year, students will visit one of the three selected countries to learn how business is developed and run in a real-life context.
“In the one-week intensive visit, students will visit at least three to five companies and the executives in those companies will present how they do business, and even invite students to give them ideas on how to develop their business,” Huang says.

Cultural experiences are vital to help expose students to new ways of thinking and learning, he says. This is why these overseas trips involve not only company visits but also trips to a museum in Europe or a tea ceremony in Japan.
Huang believes exposing students to a world that is different from their own will help to enhance their “cultural intelligence”, change their thinking and – ultimately – transform them.
Teamwork is essential [to train students’ people skills]. How can we appreciate other people’s work? How can we raise issues that may create negative feelings to[wards] teammates? These are the interpersonal skills they need to learn
Professor Huang Xu
“You cannot be intelligent or creative without being exposed to diverse knowledge, context and culture,” he says. “We send them to the US and Europe to force them to [see] different cultures [and] different ways of running [a] business.”
Training to solve industry problems
Another key component of Baptist University’s programme is for students to develop a capstone project to solve a real problem facing a company – a requirement of many MBA programmes, but rarely found in other master or MSc programmes.
The programme sees students form into groups and spend six to eight months at a company so they can study its problems, then come up with solutions.
As for training students on their people skills, Huang says nothing is more effective than teamwork, which has been embedded throughout the programme.
“Teamwork is essential,” he says. “How can we appreciate other people’s work? How can we raise issues that may create negative feelings to[wards] our teammates? These are the interpersonal skills they need to learn.”

This kind of training is also highlighted in the annual extracurricular, endurance competition, the Asia-Pacific Business School Desert Challenge, which last April saw the students compete against other teams of MBA students from 109 business schools, including some from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, in a three-day, 70km (43.5-mile) race in the Tengger Desert in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
“After three days, you see the change [in students] because in the middle of nowhere you have to face a lot of difficulty together,” says Huang, who led the university’s team.
“This is another way of training them how to cooperate with others.”


5 ways master’s degree  has helped IT consultant ‘click’ in technology industry

Why students with the ‘right stuff’ – a good mindset rather than skill set – are best placed to find jobs

EdTalk: HKBU

Hong Kong Baptist University

Students on Hong Kong Baptist University’s master of science in business management programme are given ‘real world’ training, including trips to the US and Europe to experience new cultures and different ways of running a business, which will help shape them into ideal employees for companies.

Professor Huang Xu , Programme Director of HKBU's MScBM programme in conversation with EdTalk's host Fairoza Mansor, Editor at Morning Studio.

Professor Huang Xu addressing students of HKBU's MScBM programme.

Students from HKBU's MScBM programme.

Students from HKBU's MScBM programme training for the annual extracurricular, endurance competition, the Asia-Pacific Business School Desert Challenge.

News

Hong Kong

Education


Positive attitude and passion for learning and interpersonal skills are ‘winning’ qualities for today’s employees
Today’s education system fails to produce suitable ‘real world’ job candidates, says Professor Huang Xu of Hong Kong Baptist University



Today’s education system fails to produce suitable ‘real world’ job candidates, says Professor Huang Xu of Hong Kong Baptist University


EdTalk

EdTalk: Universities

Universities in Hong Kong

Why students with the ‘right stuff’ – a good mindset rather than skill set – are best placed to find jobs

Positive attitude and passion for learning and interpersonal skills are ‘winning’ qualities for today’s employees Today’s education system fails to produce suitable ‘real world’ job candidates, says Professor Huang Xu of Hong Kong Baptist University

Positive attitude and passion for learning and interpersonal skills are ‘winning’ qualities for today’s employees

Today’s education system fails to produce suitable ‘real world’ job candidates, says Professor Huang Xu of Hong Kong Baptist University