Having become the largest auto market in the world, China has a mature car industry. China is entitled to be an "auto giant" in quantity, yet, not in quality. The culprit behind is the shortage of core technology, which is caused by the shortage of talents. According to forecasts of professional institutes, a lack of technical personnel in China's auto industry will reach over 300,000 by the year of 2015 with a more sever situation for highly skilled workers.

Build a first-class training base in Hunan

To break the bottleneck of China's auto industry, Li Shufu, Geely's chairman, has begun to explore automotive education in China and has established two automotive vocational colleges already. To answer the call of reviving the auto industry initiated by the government of Hunan Province, the company not only has set up manufacturing factories in Hunan, but also founded Hunan Geely Auto College, for the purpose of training highly skilled personnel for the local auto industry and making the industry complementary to college education.

Hunan Geely Auto College is situated in the Jiuhua Demonstration Zone of "Construction of Resource-conserving and Environmentally-friendly Society" in Xiangtan City, bordering Changsha City on the north and Xiangjiang River on the east. The College，covering an area of 400 mu (nearly 266,666 ㎡），was financed by 300 million yuan in the first construction phase. In September 2012, it enrolled its first 500 students. Mr. Li visited the college and gave the students their first lesson on the first day of class.

Yuan Libin, president of the College explained two missions the College should accomplish: to serve Geely for its global strategy of and to revive the auto industry of Hunan, building the sixth largest car manufacturing base in China. It aims to develop itself into an auto vocational training base that "leads the west and tops in China".

A success formula for auto vocational schools

"Major in automotive technology demands much hands-on experience, which cannot be taught in class but can be achieved through cooperation with enterprises", said Yuan. The College introduces the mode of bringing industry complementary to school education so as to facilitate student employment. New students are trained to be would-be Geely employees by focusing on their theoretical cultivation as well as professional competence.

To enhance the students' practical ability, the college, has built high-standard and fully-equipped training rooms, the best in west-and-middle area of China, and training rooms for "stamping, welding, coating and final assembly" with the assistance of Geely. The training program includes standard machining, auto engines and gear box. "It is like a miniature automobile factory", expressed Yuan proudly.

The college arranges two internship periods for each student. Students will have opportunity to communicate with front-line technical engineers face to face in factories or production lines. Moreover, it invites college professors, experienced R&D experts and senior technical personnel to give lectures and guide students how to apply theories in real scenarios.

A talent pool for the auto industry

"The objective of the college is to train group leaders of manufacturing shops in auto enterprises. We will train highly-skilled personnel with car business knowledge and other expertise", said Yuan excitedly, who was describing their panoramic planning for the automotive education base.

"We will cooperate with Paris Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University and Hunan University to found a college of automotive engineers and to offer master's degree program through combining practice with academic projects. R&D centers and production workshops of auto enterprises worldwide will become classrooms for students so as to train high-end technology talents of our own", said Yuan, "Furthermore, Geely plans to join with Hunan University in establishing Xiangjiang College of Hunan University with principal orientation on undergraduate education.

Hunan is bound to be a base for China's auto technical personnel training in the foreseeable future. The graduates will not only cement the comprehensive strength of Geely Group, but play a crucial role in the transformation and upgrading period of auto industry in China, generating great power for the auto industry of China.

The school motto "to revitalize China's auto industry" is also where Geely draws the power moving forward and a common goal all the homegrown auto brands aim to achieve.