Innovation boosts vocational success

Pu Xiaoxuan, a student from Fengxian secondary technical school in Shanghai, has been determined to be a livestreamer who can boost sales of her Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region hometown specialties.

She attended the first National Campus New Media Marketing Innovation Competition, which ended early last year.

Throughout the intensive competition, comprising several rounds of simulated livestreaming sessions, she grew to be a livestreaming host who no longer felt uneasy before a camera but was able to introduce the goods in a natural way during a promotional event.

"Teamwork helped me to tap my potential and I have become more willing to express myself in public," she says.

Growing up in the Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture, Pu plans to jump into the livestreaming segment after graduation and help expand the market of the nuts, fruits and other agricultural products from her hometown.

Lu Xinyu, a 22-year-old graduate from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, shares a similar story to Pu's.

She also competed in the event and got to open new vistas on her future career.

"The competition lasted 145 days during which I cooperated with my teammates to write scripts for livestreaming sessions, learn how to stimulate customer interest when showcasing commodities, form our own style, as well as do the pertinent warm-ups and reviews," she recalls.

"Practice makes perfect, we have grown to be increasingly skilled and confident when conducting a livestreaming session. That brings me a great sense of achievement."

The experience sparked her interest in e-commerce. Then a senior student majoring in brand marketing, she applied to be an intern in new media business group Inmyshow's e-commerce department after the competition. During the three-month internship, she created 80 short videos and hosted 25 livestreaming sessions.

"I also learned how to analyze such data as gross merchandise volume and number of unique visitors to assess a session and make adjustments to improve the performance of the next one," Lu adds.

The fruitful journey convinced her to spread her wings in the thriving e-commerce sector.

This year, the second National Campus New Media Marketing Innovation Competition will wrap up in March. This time, the event strives to get younger generations closer to China's traditional rural culture and inspire them to contribute to vitalization.

More than 1,500 students from 200 universities, colleges and vocational schools signed up for the event.

The event, co-held by Inmyshow Digital Technology Group, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College, Shanghai Business School and Shanghai Urban Construction Vocational College, aims to further integrate vocational education with regular education through providing equal opportunities for both vocational school students and university students and stressing practical, job-oriented skills.

The revised Vocational Education Law, which came into effect on May 1, has sent positive signals for the improvement of vocational education, a move that encourages Inmyshow to advance its vocational-education-related services in the scope of digital economy, says Guo Lei, chief manager of the company's education department.

Over the past two years, the company's education department has developed a set of textbooks encompassing systematic knowledge about new media marketing, e-commerce media, short-video platforms and livestreaming market, as well as offering internship to students from vocational schools.

It has also carried out software systems for students to have immersive learning experiences, for example, a simulation of a complete livestreaming session by which students can practice how to promote commodities in that form and analyze relevant data for the improvement of marketing strategies.

To deepen the integration of vocational education with industries, the company has set up e-commerce training centers in many cities across the country. For instance, a 3,000-square-meter e-commerce industrial zone was built near a cluster of vocational schools and universities in Tianjin's Haihe district. Teachers and students from nearby have free entry into the place where they can learn and practice the whole process of a livestreaming promotion event.

As Inmyshow remains to be in close contact with loads of enterprises who seek to develop new media business, it also serves as a bridge that links job hunters and corresponding positions.

"Enterprises send us their recruitment requirements, then we turn to those vocational schools and universities we've been cooperating with to match a suitable one for them," Guo explains.

Currently, Inmyshow has signed cooperation contracts with around 50 vocational schools across the country. The Shulan Vocational School in Jilin province is among them.

Fang Yajie, president of the school, highlights the importance of promoting school-enterprise cooperation for the further development of vocational education and deeper integration of education with industry.

He says that, in relation to the pillar industry of Shulan city, the school has been running courses in such fields as rural tourism, modern agronomy, e-commerce and agricultural machinery.

The school has also maintained close cooperation with local enterprises, including travel agencies and scenic spot operators, which enables students to have a hands-on experience in varied positions before graduation.

The school started to partner with Inmyshow in November 2021. After that, a series of training sessions were co-conducted by both sides to cultivate more talent for the sound development of local e-commerce sector in Shulan.

"That's a solid step for promoting school-enterprise cooperation," says Fang.

"We plan to equip students and local e-commerce practitioners with required new media skills to bolster the selling of agricultural products and other local specialties."