Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable. Young people often face a difficult dilemma.
On the one hand, there are the future of our society and possess unlimited potentials for growth.
On the other hand, there are yet to acquire the desirable skills and experiences to stand out in a job market and bring changes to the world.
Hello, I'm Lyming and this is Roundtable.
Today with NewHoly and Leigh, let's see what the society can do to create an environment for youth development and give young people a leg up.
July 15th marks the 10th UN World Youth Skills Day and this year they're paying attention to the main thing which is youth skills for peace and development.
This can be rather inclusive of many issues.
I'm referring to, for instance, the conflicts that are being found in East Europe and Middle East and referring to certain regions in the world where there are constant conflicts and certain young people are not necessarily exposed to a plenty of job opportunities and rather they're forced to have to command certain skills that they need to survive in the house doing environment that kind of thing.
So this is rather inclusive and it really demonstrates the stance that the UN has being an international organization of global governance and really paying a lot of attention to the conflicts that are going around in the world.
But we like to start with the agenda and then perhaps narrow down to the efforts that Chinese people are doing to provide a leg up for young people and what the country can do for youth around the world as well.
Let's begin with the UN agenda.
In this, in UN statement, violent conflicts, disrupt education and stability, polarize online environment, fostering negativity and pastits and economic inequality, limits opportunities.
These are very, very real issues that young people have to face in many parts of the world.
Definitely. Actually we see that this is rather an aim at the bigger picture because when it comes to this special day, the world youth skills day originally or our first instinct would be focusing on how to give the young people more opportunity to learn your skills, how to make sure that their new skills are actually needed in the job market that they can earn a living or bring some bread to maybe not the family's table, but at least their own tables.
Yes. When it comes to a bigger picture, we see that this year, you and Concentrates on a more futuristic, not futuristic, but more visionary part of this issue that is allow young people to become the peacekeeper to become, actually become the future of the world.
And we see if we take a look at the past years, the themes for world youth skills day have varied, each focusing on different aspects of skill development and youth empowerment.
For example, in 2023, the theme was skilling teachers, trainers and youth for a transformative future.
In 2002, we see transforming youth skills for the future.
In 2021, we see reimagining youth skills post-apendemic and in 2020, skills for a resilient youth.
So each and every single theme is actually quite visionary and it focuses on the bigger picture, so we see these themes reflect a continuous effort to adapt to the changing global landscape and ensure that young people are prepared to face future challenges with the necessary skills.
And it was also the youth unemployment issue that brought people's attention to the issue that young people sometimes are exposed to.
For instance, violent conflicts, disrupt education and stability.
If they don't get the training that they need in the midst of conflicts or other turbulence in the society, then they are more vulnerable to in the job market in real sense.
I mean, the data from last year was that youth unemployment is three times the average for the adults in the job market and that really is a huge issue.
And also on top of the employment, I think the bigger picture is that when the youth talking about the speak theme, youth skills for peace and development, it's pretty vague and also very broadened concept.
And then I tried to look up what kind of skills are expected that young people should be equipped with.
And I find that a lot in a lot of aspects or researchers, of course, you can talk about young people can have the skills to have a better job.
But in a broader sense, probably their skills and also their contribution to the whole society and also their performance in a job market could also contribute to economic progress of the whole society, which also contributes to the societal stability, something like that.
And also when I try to find some activities being held to celebrate this world youth skills day, and I find that a very important fact is that because when talking about youth skills and vocational training is a very important issue here.
And in a lot of countries or in some countries, actually a very large number of young people don't really have access to training.
So that's why we need this occasion, we need this, we need a stay to really call for attention, you know, about not only youth skills, but also how to empower those young people to already have access to vocational training and in the end to help them equipped with skills, important skills that could contribute to sustainable development.
Vocational skills obviously is very important, it really matters to the youth as to whether they are able to find a means to be self independent in the society and in any country, that's for sure.
And I imagine later on we'll discuss this more in depth.
But now just in general terms, what do you think are important for youth to have in orders to foster an environment of peace and development?
I could think of, for instance, communication, you can never err with communication, anybody could use better communication skills.
And I think for young people, this is all the more important as young people oftentimes do not have the experience and skills to know the situation that they are in currently.
And sometimes when one starts at the job as a beginner, he or she may not necessarily know what is the most important skills to pursue, not to mention to already have.
As such, so oftentimes young people might look up to some more mature members of the society and the role models of the company.
But if such a role model isn't there, then the young people, the young persons oftentimes left to their own to figure out what is necessary to do.
For instance, setting out in our job is really, if you don't have a background in communications, if you don't have a background in news, then you start a job at a radio or a TV, then there's a lot you can learn.
You have to know where to begin with.
Yes, and I understand that you're trying to make the topic relevant, but I think when it comes to the necessary skills, a young people would need, you don't have to add, young people would need to become a peacekeeper or become a valuable member of the society.
Because as long as we're doing our jobs, we're learning on the process or we're learning on the jobs and also we're working every day, we do not create any trouble and we make progress in the career.
We are being a very responsible member of the society.
It does not have to be that grand, in my opinion.
Yeah, definitely. I think responsibility is the top priority here.
And also, I think when talking about how to make young people better prepare for the future, I would say digital skills or AI skills are extremely important in today's society.
Because when I try to look at this topic and I sort of thought of my previous interview experience at some double's economic forum in Dalian in 2019, and that in that year, I don't really think AI is as developed as what we have today, but then there are already some discussion about how to make young people or old people to better prepare for the future, especially when you're facing with a rise of AI and robots and everything.
And one interview, he said something really that impressed me.
His opinion was like, we are not really trying to make robots to compete with human instead.
We need to invest in his personal skills, that surround technology.
Like how do you communicate, how do you do critical problem solving, empathize with other people?
And how do you think about the robot is the team member instead of the competitor to you?
And how do you think about jobs will shift, skills will go away, but we are not there yet.
So in 2019, that gentleman said we are not really there yet.
So today, I don't really think we are also there yet still we need to equip like young people with these all kinds of AI skills and meantime, how do you understand the progress of technologies?
How do you think they can become like great helper to you?
And together you can like work with each other and become like a peacekeeper and a significant contributor to the society economic growth.
Yes, and understanding AI and data analysis is increasingly important across multiple fields and on top of that, I do also believe young people should be proficiency in using computers, the internet and various software applications.
It is crucial. And also skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics can be quite important and those skills belong to the technical skills.
And when it comes to the one that Limey has already mentioned, the interpersonal skills, communication is important, being able to join teamwork and to elaborate with others is important.
And for the future of our society, leadership and management is also quite useful in your future career path.
In the meantime, cognitive skills, including critical thinking, creativity, innovation, adaptability and reliance can be quite crucial, but these are not precisely any kind of skills that's only needed in the workplace, actually in your family when you're talking and being with your friends, these can also be quite important.
And one important one is emotional intelligence because we see that mental health issue has been an issue facing and also challenging young people, not only young people, people in our society.
So being able to dealing with the emotional problems in your life and your workplace can be a necessary skill.
So I can think of a lot of different skills, but each people have their different endowment in a way.
Some are really good at interacting with others.
For them, maybe spending some time on being digitally literate, literate would be more important.
And for some people, they're really good at math already and they need to spend more time talking to their friends and cooperating with their co-workers.
Both of you mentioned some very good examples of skills that young people need to have in order to survive and thrive in our day and age.
AI, awareness and digital literacy, that kind of thing.
But not all of them are, in fact, let me correct.
I mean, some of them are quite specific.
For instance, AI adaptability or proficiency.
This can be a very helpful skill to have in a country where artificial intelligence technologies are quite advanced, like in the US and in China.
But in a, let's say, still developing country in terms of AI, even for someone that has that skill that may, that might not be a market for that.
So I think what I'm trying to drive at is that perhaps it is beyond individual's ability and necessity, in fact, to possess and command such technologies or skills that we were mentioning.
Do you think sometimes it's the society or the country's responsibility to provide some kind of a boaster or a combination so that whatever skills that young people are pursuing have a place to be cashed out?
I think specifically we are talking about how to make young people better prepared for their career success.
So that's why I think it's really important to help young people like to have an early identification of what sort of path you want to follow as early as possible.
And I think there is like a changing mentality and also the way of doing things in Chinese society right now.
Because compared to my generation or like decades ago, people tend to think that, okay, as a young person, then maybe for the first 15 years of your life, you should really focus on your academic performance and study, study while and it's really important for you to get enrolled into good universities.
And then after that, and you can like choose your favorite major and also think about what kind of career path you want to follow.
So it's sort of like very late or not so, you know, updated like preparation for young people sort of you need to learn everything when you really enter the workplace.
And now I think it's really changing like you need to get prepared as early as possible and the parents and schools and the whole society are also working to help like case to try to of course to discover their talents and also follow their interests and also trying to provide as much as many programs access as possible for young people to figure out what they really want to do and they can start to better prepared.
So I think that's really you are right, I think that really needs a lot of efforts from various actors in society.
I mean in the past few decades, perhaps the education system as well as the social awareness have changed to extent to allow for more diversity and inclusiveness in the well carrying out of or implementation of educational curriculum.
As such, we can now see a more inclusive and more comprehensive pursuit with regard to how young people are supposed to be educated and trained.
This is obviously quite important.
Another important aspect that we deliberately left out and that is the vocational skills that we've so far touched upon to less extent but I think I would like to dive deeper in this regard as well.
I mean of course vocational skills are very important like I said earlier is related to people's ability and sense of independence upon which people can build a successful career and a successful self identification and an expectation for ourselves going forward.
So we in this country have done quite a lot nationwide, both nationwide and also originally to promote skills and to encourage young people to pursue a higher level of skills in order for them to thrive in the society and a national level workers vocational skills competition is one of the tools that we're using.
Yes, actually the eighth China National Workers Vocational Skills Competition took place on July 11th.
The competition is jointly organized by the old China Federation of Trade Unions and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Because the largest national level vocational skills competition with the widest coverage and the highest number of participants it is held once every three years since 2003 and this is not the only one that's happening on the land of China actually there are different national level competitions when it comes to young people's or workers vocational skills.
We have seen the Jinxing Cup being held also this year and there are some regional ones including anything in different provinces and different to municipal cities.
There are different ones.
I've seen one in Beijing and it's really really fun by saying fun.
I mean yes because if we're talking about the finals of this year's national competition of the eighth China National Workers Vocational Skills Competition there are only six different items.
We see six types of vocational jobs included in the final competition.
Our welder CNC machine tool installation and maintenance technician network and information security administrator AI trainer, auto mobile repair technician and that is a intelligent connected new energy vehicle direction and online delivery person now and have to admit I do not understand half of the keywords here.
Some of the per... I see and see machine tools as a generation of maintenance.
And for those words that I do actually recognize actually look into certain well the actual competition items like the kind of knowledge you are supposed to require and also the kind of application or the kind of actual practices that you need to compete with.
And I do not understand half of those keywords as well.
Let me give you an example.
It's actually quite interesting.
When it comes to AI trainer, the AI trainer competition item is designed as an individual event and with a focus on practical engineering applications.
Data based management algorithm, parameter settings, human computer interaction design and you're going to have to compete in areas like data collection, data cleaning, data annotation, cleaning environment setup, motor training, model tuning, model validation.
I do not understand these things.
They are quite professional and really advanced and it makes you wonder because I think in the let's say 10 years back, if you think about vocational skills, you think about car repairing, you think about hairdressing, you think about designing of clothing.
Smartphone assembly. The smartphone assembling were automobile assembling but now look at all these different items and look at some examples of the items that I talked about to the Beijing vocational skills competition is the sixth one by the way and it features a total of 140 competition items.
There are a lot of different items and these items include network system management, internet of things technology, CAD, machine, coal design, jewelry processing, TART, industrial robot system operation.
The list goes on 140 and these are quite advanced and these are quite futuristic and these are the direction or the development focus that the country or Beijing municipal government is encouraging and that answers linings previous question that is if I am a young person, I do not know what I love just yet, I do not know what kind of vocational skills I should acquire, I can look into these competitions, I can look into the different platforms providing trainings and I can get access to these different vocational skills and that's quite fun.
It's one thing to have competitions to give people an idea of what the city and the country needs in terms of high end talent but there's another thing to allow people to have access to the necessary training and facilities in order for them to acquire the skills.
So what do you think China has done in order to facilitate people's acquisition of necessary skills for them to thrive in the future?
I think in recent years really China is focusing on how to conduct this vocational education or vocational training and more employment oriented approach to really provide access to young people to vocational training and also all kinds of talent cultivation program, not only within companies but also among universities and vocational training organizations and also those enterprises to better prepare young people for the emerging industries in society.
For example, there is a very famous program named the Lu Ben Workshop.
It's a really international vocational education project established in Tianjin city and it's really named Lu Ben and ancient Chinese Buddha Kraft and Master and this workshop offers vocational skills training for local communities and these workshops have been established in over 20 countries actually include Thailand, Indonesia in the past decade.
It's really also a vocational training program looking for international cooperation and a lot of young people have learned very essential skills through these workshops.
So I think it's just one example and another example is that there are more and more increasing number of collaboration programs between universities and enterprises.
So maybe at the fourth year or even like the second and third year of a university learning so young people can really have this opportunity to go to enterprises to do like intership and to do relevant works that are relevant to their majors.
I think these are very good initiatives that China have been promoting.
And this is very important in fact in order to give people the ability to make a living, the skills and the ability is really also reducing the possibility of further conflicts.
And one of the principles of economy is that trade is something that makes everybody better.
And without trade oftentimes we see conflicts exacerbating sometimes leading to real conflicts and to the level of war.
So going back to the main thing of this year's UN youth world youth skills day and that is youth skills for peace and development.
My immediate response or the first idea that came to my mind about what skill stands for peace and what skill stands for conflicts.
I would think that maybe skills with knives and guns.
I mean, of course they are very, very important skills for self-defense.
But sometimes they, one would wish that we don't necessarily have to possess the skills.
And in comparison if we somehow were given the opportunity to master skills in communication, in trade and in woodcraftsmanship, then if we have a means to make a living to trade our skills for valuable resources for us to survive the society and make everybody better, then perhaps that's what we are hoping for.
That's what the UN is hoping for to you, facilitate youth skills for peace and development.
