Xi’an Eurasia University describes its core values like this: “We are intended to provide students with useful education and place emphasis on useful things. The teaching and management work should be assessed based on effectiveness.” Driven by such values, the university has been committed to reform and innovation. To keep up with the changing trends of social and industrial development and talent needs, it has been pursuing excellence through high-quality practical teaching, university-enterprise collaborative education, occupational career planning, and other means to cultivate high-quality applied talent with international vision, innovative spirit, and strong practical ability who are virtuous, thoughtful, and good at communicating.

As a leader in application-oriented undergraduate education in China, Xi’an Eurasia University deems student evaluation by employers as one of its important criteria for establishing a teaching evaluation system. The column “Interview with HR Specialists” invites multiple employers to fairly and faithfully evaluate the working ability of graduates from Xi’an Eurasia University in terms of practicality, adaptability, sense of responsibility, and other dimensions, as a way to test the university’s educational achievements and improve its education and teaching based on feedback.

In the first issue, the column interviews six guests. The companies where the guests work have all established long-term cooperation with the School of Finance and Data Science, the School of Business Administration, and the School of Accounting of Xi’an Eurasia University. All these guests have been in their respective industries for years and have dealt with graduates from many universities. The column hopes that their sharing will reveal the teaching advantages of Xi’an Eurasia University and provide more undergraduates a clear guidance on their future development direction.

Guoyuan Securities Co., Ltd., established in August 2001 and headquartered in Anhui Province, went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on October 30, 2007. It is a comprehensive securities company approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and registered with the Anhui Administration for Industry and Commerce.

(Fig. 1) Shaanxi Branch of Guoyuan Securities

When Guoyuan Securities began to prepare for the establishment of the Xi’an Business Office in 2014, Wang joined this team and witnessed the whole process from the establishment of the Xi’an branch in 2018 to its continuous development. He believes that the securities industry is undergoing a brand-new baptism and upgrading, believing that it will focus on providing wealth management and financing operation services for enterprises and individuals and will also have higher requirements for the ability of its professionals. In addition to the ability to predict the development trend of the financial sector and establish a complete knowledge system, students also need to have correct self-cognition and learning ability.

Wang said, “Guoyuan Securities established its presence in Xi’an in 2014. Since 2015, interns and graduates from Xi’an Eurasia University have joined the team every year. What impresses me most about the students of Xi’an Eurasia University is their spirituality, for example, their interpersonal skills, their verbal expression ability when reporting their work, their anti-stress ability in the face of team responsibilities, and their independent learning ability. I think these are all closely related to their university education.”

Some graduates of Xi’an Eurasia University have accumulated rich work experience at Guoyuan Securities. Now they continue to pursue their careers in a wide range of fields in Xi’an’s securities industry. Wang was happy to see this: “I hope everyone can be versatile, rather than the opposite. At university, students should pay more attention to the world outside their majors, improve their logical thinking abilities and text-writing skills, and have a correct understanding of the industry and themselves. All these will be helpful for their future career development.”

The School of Finance and Data Science of Xi’an Eurasia University established a good school-enterprise cooperation relationship with Xi’an Huibang Jiade Market Research Co., Ltd. when it began to enroll students for its economic statistics major for the first time. Every year, interns or graduates from Xi’an Eurasia University come to Huibang Jiade as the start of their careers in market research.

(Fig. 2) Huibang Jiade Market Research Co., Ltd.

Liu has worked on market research for more than 20 years and spent more than 15 years at Xi’an Huibang Jiade Market Research Co., Ltd. She has dealt with many fresh graduates from a number of universities. She stressed that the market research industry should be about more than data: “In today’s world where the Internet and big data are so developed, our competitive advantage should be one step ahead of others. For example, the results provided to customers should be more than a simple data report, but business analysis and recommendations based on it. This requires a perception of the trend of the indusry, and this ability can only be gained through accumulation.”

Liu believes that the biggest advantage of students of Xi’an Eurasia University is that most of them have internship or competition experience during their school years: “Market research is an industry with high requirements for holistic approaches and collaborative abilities, and the actual work content may be somewhat different from the theoretical knowledge in class. Many students of Xi’an Eurasia University have won awards in competitions. Some of them have worked at our company as interns for two or even three consecutive years. This means that they not only have the theoretical knowledge that undergraduates are supposed to have, but also are more familiar with the operation process of market research. Such students can quickly start working proficiently, integrate themselves into the team, and achieve the goal of independently leading a project within 1-2 years.”

As a listed reserve enterprise in Shaanxi Province, Cicada Technology, whose brand name is “Xuejiajia”, leverages key technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things to provide customers, mostly education departments, K12, and other education customers with quality services and full-scenario digital solutions. Until now, it has served more than 80,000 schools and institutions nationwide.

(Fig. 3) Photo of the Internal Office Environment of Cicada Technology

Sophia, an HR director with work experience in renowned internet companies in Shenzhen and who now works at Cicada Technology, said: “I think the students of Xi’an Eurasia University have three very obvious characteristics compared with graduates from other universities,” The first is the innovation ability. They can always come up with new ideas for different projects and topics. They do not set limits for themselves. Second, they keep an open mind towards work. They are ready to have a try even beyond their field. Last, they are resilient and highly tolerant of the intensity and difficulty of work. They do not complain or give up easily.”

Cicada Technology has already established a comprehensive strategic cooperation relationship with Xi’an Eurasia University. Starting from the sophomore or junior academic year, students participate in internships in a project-based manner, with the work content covering many fields including event planning, user operation, video creation, and new media push. Graduates with internship experience are preferred by the “Talent Future Stars” Management Trainee Program.

When it comes to the assessment criteria for graduates, Sophia said: “In addition to innovative ability, down-to-earth attitude, and sense of responsibility, we also hope that students have clear thinking, aspirations, and a clear plan for their careers. For example, students of Xi’an Eurasia University develop excellent executive and presentation skills through the activities they participate in during their school years. These skills are very important.”

Easy Click Worldwide Network Technology Co., Ltd. (Eclicktech) is an international intelligent marketing service provider dedicated to providing customers with global marketing and promotion services. This company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2022 has more than 900 employees in total, with offices in major cities in China and beyond such as London, San Francisco, and cities in the Netherlands.

Qu is not only a human resources director at Eclicktech but also an associate professor who has engaged in teaching at the School of Business Administration of Xi’an Eurasia University for more than a decade. She once served as Assistant Dean of the School of Business Administration. When evaluating the typical characteristics of students at Xi’an Eurasia University, she mentioned two key words: “One is a stable kernel, which we usually call strong resistance to stress and frustration, and extremely adaptable in work; the other is practicality. Each student has experienced an internship for at least six months before graduation.”

(Fig. 4) Graduates from Xi’an Eurasia University Who Work at Eclicktech

Qu believes that these characteristics are attributed to Xi’an Eurasia University’s student-centered education orientation, such as the ongoing industry-university cooperation between Eclicktech and Xi’an Eurasia University. The school conducts teaching management and provides teacher guidance around the needs of enterprises and students. Customized classes are set up for the marketing major, and regular courses are offered to juniors for overseas advertising optimizers, AMs (account managers), and other positions required by Eclicktech. Students of human resources can directly participate in practice as project teaching assistants.

Eclicktech also provides award sponsorship for some competitions of the Eurasia Art and Design School to encourage students to enhance their aesthetic awareness and creativity, so as to explore talent for advertising graphic design and other positions in the company.

ShineWing International (ShineWing) is a comprehensive professional service organization with strong brand influence and international service capability in China today. It has four business segments, namely audit assurance, management consulting, tax services, and engineering management, with a total of nearly 12,000 employees in 101 offices in 19 countries and regions around the world.

In 2018, ShineWing (Xi’an) Data Service Co., Ltd. was established to follow the development trend of industry informatization and digital intelligence, build a front-end, middle-end, and back-end operation mode for audit, break through the industrial dilemma, promote the transfer of audit business functions to the middle-end, and provide customers with efficient, professional, and high-quality professional audit services. In 2019, it established a talent training model based on school-enterprise cooperation with the School of Accounting of Xi’an Eurasia University.

(Fig. 5) Group photo of ShineWing Sharing Center Mobile Classroom

Management of ShineWing Sharing Center have visited Xi’an Eurasia University many times to discuss more effective teaching methods with the dean and teachers of the School of Accounting. Zhou said:

“University-enterprise cooperation can help with students’ employment and help train applied talent with strong practical ability, creativity, and enthusiasm for work. At present, our cooperation model with Xi’an Eurasia University is mainly embedded teaching, that is, embedding work content into the curriculum of junior college students; mobile classroom and on-site observation mean that after theoretical teaching, students are invited to experience the workflow in an office environment; substituted internship involves providing interested students with internship positions related to their relevant majors; special lectures are about inviting senior accountants of the firm to give special lectures at Xi’an Eurasia University to answer students’ questions.”

After complete study and practice, students can become full members of ShineWing. Zhou spoke highly of the students from Xi’an Eurasia University. “These students have undergone targeted professional training and meet the company’s requirements very well, so their work proceeds smoothly.”

Shaanxi Yixinyiyi Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. is a new type of company that combines Internet with other fields, with leading scale, standardized management, and comprehensive professional services in Shaanxi Province. Its main business includes company registration, bookkeeping agency, export tax rebate, financial outsourcing, operating account consultation, trademark registration, qualification handling, etc. It is a comprehensive service platform covering the whole life cycle of enterprises. Mr. Shao Wenkai, founder and general manager of the group company, also serves as an employment and entrepreneurship instructor at Xi’an Eurasia University.

(Fig. 6) The Office Environment of Yixinyiyi

Ms. Zhang Sijing, Human Resources Director of Yixinyiyi, is a graduate of Xi’an Eurasia University. She said, “I like students from Xi’an Eurasia University because they are brave, confident, and smart. When I was in college, I could sense Xi’an Eurasia University’s education philosophy of “Pluralitas in unitatem”. That’s why its students are flexible and adaptable. They show self-confidence that comes from deep down, which should be attributed to the university’s efforts to enhance their recognition of themselves.”

With the rapid development of the finance and taxation industry, the number of finance and taxation enterprises in Xi’an has increased sharply, leading to an increasingly prominent scarcity of foreign trade financial professionals. The expertise barriers are high for people who engage in this industry and the competition is fierce as well.

To meet the new needs of the labor market, Yixinyiyi has set up a targeted training course in relation to foreign trade by cooperating with Xi’an Eurasia University. The lectures of the course are delivered every Wednesday afternoon. Its content covers foreign trade accounting, enterprise accounting, and other fiscal and taxation expertise, as well as employment guidance. Students who have completed the course and passed the examination can obtain an internship position at Yixinyiyi.

Ms. Zhang said, “Some of the students from Xi’an Eurasia University working at our company have joined our company by applying for their jobs by themselves while others have joined us through the university-enterprise cooperation channel. Their positions are all very important and absolutely competitive. “

Employers’ evaluation is like a mirror, which can help better understand the advantages and disadvantages of the school education system. As one of the private universities in finance and economics with the highest level of education in the Chinese mainland, Xi’an Eurasia University has provided numerous high-quality business talent for the industry through application-oriented teaching and innovative reform over the years, winning much favor from employers. Xi’an Eurasia University will continue to work with employers to improve teaching and carry out joint training to help with the development of enterprises and industries so that students can take this university as a starting point on the path to anywhere they want.