Yantai Automotive Engineering Professional College Partners with Weichai to Take the Lead in the New Energy Vehicle Field

At the beginning of the New Year, Yantai Automotive Engineering Professional College welcomed guests from its neighbourhood. On January 6, 2025, Weichai FinDreams Battery Co., Ltd. came for negotiations, and the two sides reached a number of consensuses on deepening technical services and talent cultivation.

In fact, this is not the first meeting between the two sides. The cooperation content between the two sides is becoming increasingly rich. The two sides have joined hands to seize opportunities in the new track of the development of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry and help accelerate the upgrading of Yantai's automobile industry.

The exemplary collaboration between Weichai Group and Yantai Automotive Engineering Professional College traces its roots to earlier engagements, with a comprehensive partnership formally established in 2023.

On August 9, 2023, the college signed an agreement with the Weichai Group to co-establish the Yantai Automotive Engineering Professional College-Weichai Modern Industry College. The two sides mainly carried out in-depth cooperation in aspects, such as innovating the talent cultivation model, developing college-enterprise cooperation courses, building demonstration industry-education integration training bases, constructing a double-qualified faculty team, and improving the management system and mechanism. They explored and implemented a “2+0.5+0.5” three-stage talent cultivation model for majors, such as mechatronics technology, industrial robot technology, mechanical manufacturing and automation, and numerical control technology. 

On June 20, 2024, Yantai Automotive Engineering Professional College signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Weichai-FinDreams (Yantai) New Energy Power Industrial Park, outlining collaborative initiatives, including the joint construction of an industrial college and targeted training for high-skilled talents. The partnership will also involve cooperation in college students’ internships and employment, skill upgrading training for enterprise employees, and product technology R&D services.

On the morning of December 30 last year, the launching ceremony of the Weichai FinDreams battery production line and product roll-off event was held in Fushan District, Yantai. The Weichai-FinDreams (Yantai) New Energy Power Industrial Park project, jointly invested in by leading Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer Weichai Power Co., Ltd. and new energy vehicle giant BYD, stands as the largest single equipment manufacturing project with external investment in Yantai since the 11th Five-Year Plan. 

“The commissioning of the industrial park is of great significance to us.” said Guo Sanhua, the leader of the teaching team for new energy vehicle inspection and maintenance technology at Yantai Automobile Engineering Professional College. He noted that with the commissioning of the industrial park this time, the Weichai Modern Industry College will gain another good opportunity for development and will achieve comprehensive and precise integration with the local automotive industry chains in Fushan District, Yantai.

As a talent reserve base for the automotive industry, the college has deepened its collaboration with Weichai Group and the Weichai-FinDreams (Yantai) New Energy Power Industrial Park. In November 2024, Qin Guijian, Party Secretary of Yantai Automotive Engineering Professional College, led a team to visit the industrial park. On January 6, 2025, representatives of Weichai FinDreams Battery Co., Ltd. visited the college for negotiations again. Through multiple negotiations, the two sides had in-depth discussions on technical services and support, students' internships and employment, and the enterprise's labor demand, expanded the professional cooperation fields and further promoted the industry-university-research cooperation between the two sides.

The reporter learned that the college actively aligns with the talent needs of the industrial park and has started to reserve a large number of talents related to majors, such as new energy vehicle technology, new energy vehicle inspection and maintenance technology, and automotive intelligent technology, which are urgently needed by the industrial park. Leveraging the industrial park, the college also plans to apply for the establishment of a municipal industry-education integration consortium for intelligent and new energy vehicles, promoting college-enterprise cooperation and industry-education integration to a new level.

The automotive industry is a traditional pillar industry of Yantai and one of the 16 industrial chains that Yantai prioritizes for development. On December 30, 2024, the Shandong Provincial Government issued the Implementation Plan for Supporting Yantai in Building a Demonstration City for Green, Low-Carbon, and High-Quality Development, requiring the city to strengthen its landmark industrial clusters, accelerate the growth of new energy vehicles and power battery industries, and build a million-vehicle automotive industrial cluster.

Over the years, Yantai Automobile Engineering Professional College has been committed to strengthening talent cultivation and platform innovation, engaging in strategic layouts to deepen industry-education integration and college-enterprise cooperation. The college has achieved close integration and collaborative development with the automotive industry chain, leading the way among similar majors in China’s higher vocational colleges. For four consecutive years, the college has won five national-level second and third prizes and ten provincial first prizes in provincial or national competitions, such as the New Energy Vehicle Technology and Service, Intelligent Connected Vehicle Technology events in vocational colleges, and the New Energy Vehicle Key Technology and Skills Competition.

Qin Guijian stated that, as a high-quality vocational college in Shandong Province, in the face of the new trend of the accelerated transformation of the automotive industry towards new energy, our college has always adhered to our professional layout that focuses on the automobile sector and closely aligns with the industry chain.

It has established a professional system that develops in coordination with the industry, regarding industry-education integration and college-enterprise cooperation as vital approaches to running the college. Keeping up with the coordinated development trend of the automotive industry towards electrification, networking, and intelligence, it precisely meets the development needs of the industry and takes the initiative to serve the major strategies of the country, provinces, and cities, empowering the high-quality development of Yantai's automotive industry, and contributing to a million-vehicle automotive industry cluster.