Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 853 Deep Cooperation with the Education Department
[The previous image was blocked; please allow me to edit it.]

In the afternoon, Yang and Bao parted ways, each having their own things to do.

Yang Wendong was invited to No. 37 Damucang Hutong in Xicheng District of Beijing, which is the location of the Ministry of Education's offices. Several leaders met with Yang Wendong and had many official talks.
At 2 o'clock, everyone arrived at the conference room. The weather in Yanjing was quite cool at that moment. With the windows open, the crisp chirping of birds outside was also very pleasant to hear.

“Mr. Yang, we would like to have a discussion with you regarding the university donation you previously proposed,” a middle-aged man said.

Yang Wendong agreed, "Okay, feel free to ask any questions."

Prior to this, Hong Kong had already sent people to the mainland to negotiate with the education department. Today, Yang Wendong is here to negotiate some matters that his subordinates cannot decide or that are highly controversial.

Yesterday, Director Lin, who went to pick up Mr. Yang at the airport, said, "Mr. Yang, could you please confirm the location beforehand?"

"Then where do you suggest it?" Yang Wendong asked in return.

Director Lin replied, "Our first choice is naturally Beijing, and the second is Shanghai. These two places have a large population, and your university focuses on the electronics industry, so it will be convenient for students to find jobs locally after graduation."

"Let's leave the address aside for now." Yang Wendong then asked, "I remember our requirement was that after graduating from university, you would be working at my company, Glory, right?"

In two months, the four special economic zones for reform and opening up will be established. As long as we delay until then, we can propose to put it in the deep sea.

If one doesn't know the future, then placing one's university in Yenching or Shanghai would indeed be the most suitable, since these are the places where talents from the mainland gather, and they also suit one's goal of recruiting talents. Of course, one still needs to first allocate and distribute talents with the mainland.

Historically, Li Ka-shing and Pao Yue-kong donated schools without caring about where the students ultimately went; they didn't need it. But it's different for him. He's counting on mainland China's investment to become the lifeblood of his group's future, especially given the increasing emphasis Hong Kong society places on finance and real estate.
“Mr. Yang, this university is also for selecting talents for the country. If you go to Hong Kong, wouldn’t you be doing all the work for someone else?” Director Lin said with difficulty.

Yang Wendong countered, "How can Hong Kong be considered 'other'? If Hong Kong's economy develops, can't it also boost the domestic economy? Otherwise, we wouldn't need to be discussing this here today, right?"

Director Lin and the others dared not express much opinion on the Hong Kong issue, so they said, "Mr. Yang, you are right, but you can't force everyone to go to Hong Kong, can you?"

Yang Wendong immediately laughed and said, "That works too. Let's go by the principle of voluntariness, shall we?"

Although workers had a high social status in this era, compared to the opportunity to go overseas, it goes without saying what those students would choose.

Director Lin and the others' expressions changed, naturally knowing that this was not feasible either. So they said, "Mr. Yang, how about we set a ratio, with a certain percentage of people staying in the country and a certain percentage going to Hong Kong?"

“Sure, we can discuss the proportions gradually, but how do we determine who goes to Hong Kong and who doesn’t?” Yang Wendong countered. “It wouldn’t be right if some people who want to go to Hong Kong are forced to stay, while others who don’t want to go are transferred there.”

Why don't we stick to the principle of voluntariness and let the students choose for themselves? Then we can determine, according to a certain ratio, who goes to Hong Kong and who stays on the mainland, what do you think?

“That won’t work either. I think we should let the school make the arrangements,” Director Lin insisted.
What a joke! If students were allowed to choose freely, all the top talents would go to Hong Kong, no doubt about it.
It's important to know that since the first government-sponsored study abroad program in 78, countless people have been scrambling to study abroad or go overseas. Although Hong Kong is part of the mainland, it's still different, and people from eastern Guangdong province know the difference best.

Yang Wendong then said, "That involves the school board again, and I know you are unwilling to compromise on this."

“Mr. Yang, it’s not that we’re unwilling to compromise, but our schools in China simply don’t have such an institution,” Director Lin quickly said. “How about this: we can arrange a vice-principal position for you to oversee finances, what do you think?”

“That works too.” Yang Wendong nodded and asked, “What about the teaching staff? What level of quality can you provide?”

No matter how good the hardware is, you still need software. As for the teaching staff, we can only entrust it to the mainland. We might be able to hire a few overseas professors, but it's impossible to do so in large numbers.

Director Lin said, "Mr. Yang, you can rest assured on this point. We will arrange the teaching staff in accordance with the requirements of key local universities. However, it also depends on where the school is located. For example, if it is in Beijing, we will transfer people from various universities in Beijing. The same applies to Shanghai and other places."

“Okay, then.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “It seems our biggest point of contention is still the arrangement of this student.”

The concepts of 211 and 985 universities emerged after the 90s. Before that, universities were classified into national key universities, universities directly under ministries, and provincial key universities.
It's already good enough that his new university can be set up like a local key university, similar to a future 985/211 university. He doesn't expect the country to set it up like Tsinghua or Peking University; that's just wishful thinking.

Of course, if you can pave your own way in foreign exchange and attract students to study abroad, you might still be able to snag top students from Tsinghua and Peking Universities. After all, Tsinghua and Peking Universities in this era don't have enough resources to send people abroad to study, let alone provide them with jobs overseas to earn foreign exchange.

Director Lin said, "That's right. Our country also hopes to focus on developing electronic technology. We would be happy if you could invest in our university. However, we also need to retain some of our talent."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I understand your thoughts, but I also have my own needs. It seems we still can't make a decision today."

The rest of the afternoon, the group discussed many other matters. Yang Wendong had finalized some minor issues, but they still couldn't reach an agreement on the university's location and the allocation of talent.

Around 4 o'clock, everyone prepared to wrap up. Although they hadn't reached a complete agreement, it was still a significant step forward.

Just as everyone was leaving, a middle-aged man who had barely spoken at the meeting approached Yang Wendong and said, "Mr. Yang, could we talk privately about the issue of talent allocation? I have a good idea."

"Director Qian, is there any suggestion you can't share with everyone?" Director Lin immediately became somewhat dissatisfied. Director Qian smiled and said, "My method really can only be discussed with Mr. Yang alone. Director Lin, I'm doing this for your own good, trust me."

Director Lin glanced at Yang Wendong, who nodded and said, "Okay, let's talk privately."

He also wanted to solve this problem, because Honor's development required a lot of talent, especially a few years later when various electronic industries would explode.

However, the top talents in China are all assigned jobs. Although many talents will choose to "go into business" in the future, it was relatively rare in the 80s. It mainly became a large-scale phenomenon in the 90s. By the 90s, he was no longer worried about this issue. It has mainly been the last ten years.
While he could certainly poach talent, and could probably do so by using foreign exchange as a means, doing so would be ineffective with too few people, and if he had too many, there would definitely be objections from his domestic side, and it might also affect his cooperation with other industries in China, which would be a losing proposition. In addition, some of these talents are involved in the military industry, making it even more difficult for him to forcibly poach them.

Furthermore, with his future large-scale investments in China, the domestic factories will also need talent, which is a headache. The management of large factories is also very complex, and sufficient talent is needed to ensure that quality is not a problem. He even wants to place some technological research and development in China in the future.

Yang Wendong and Director Lin returned to the conference room alone. Yang Wendong asked, "Director Lin, now that it's just the two of us, let's talk."

Director Lin smiled and said, "Mr. Yang, the method I suggested may be a bit presumptuous. If you disagree, just pretend I didn't say it."

"Tell me about it first," Yang Wendong said. He had guessed that this method must be a bit problematic, otherwise he wouldn't have talked to him alone.

Director Lin said, "Mr. Yang, our dispute is actually just about the placement of graduates. If we only look at one school, then both sides are indeed arguing, especially the school you mentioned that has a Western education model, which is almost equivalent to studying abroad. These graduates will definitely be valued, and the same goes for the national level."
So my idea is, if there are more students like this, wouldn't the problem be solved?

"Do you mean I should expand the school? Or build two schools?" Yang Wendong asked rhetorically.

Director Lin shook his head and said, "No, what I mean is that many universities across the country actually have everything they need except advanced Western equipment."
The school you're considering donating to has no shortage of advanced Western equipment, but it lacks students and teachers. Wouldn't it be better if we could strike a balance between the two?

"So you want me to sponsor other schools?" Yang Wendong immediately understood;
Director Lin explained, "That's not entirely true. Your school doesn't actually need to be very large; it can be smaller. The extra foreign exchange can be used to purchase equipment for universities like Tsinghua and Peking University."

In this way, efficiency is actually the highest, because even if your school is built, its students' abilities will not be comparable to those of Tsinghua and Peking Universities. From the perspective of cultivating a sufficient number of high-quality students, allocating a portion of foreign exchange to multiple prestigious institutions is actually the most appropriate approach.

Yang Wendong then said, "According to your logic, wouldn't it be more beneficial to the domestic higher education sector if I didn't donate to this school but instead donated the funds to dozens of universities across the country?"

“That’s what I think. After all, Tsinghua, Peking University, and other universities have excellent faculty, students, and environment. They only lack Western equipment.” Director Lin said frankly, “Actually, my initial suggestion to the higher authorities was to persuade you not to build this school and to follow my idea instead, but the higher authorities did not agree.”

“Perhaps you are right, but both I and the mainland need such a project,” Yang Wendong said, shaking his head.

What Director Lin said might be correct. In terms of efficiency alone, if funds are allocated to universities like Tsinghua and Peking University to purchase equipment now, results might be available next year, while it would take several years just to build our own school.
However, he didn't understand human nature, or rather, he did understand it and wanted to try to change it.

Making this request only shows that he is very bold, or that he genuinely wants to help the development of the education industry in mainland China.

Director Lin nodded and said, "Yes, so this is my suggestion."

"This doesn't change my problem, does it?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Director Lin said, “Of course, that’s possible. My idea is that you can donate some equipment to other top universities, and those universities can also give your company some graduate places. The number from each university won’t be large, so it won’t affect the universities themselves. But if the number is large enough, it will be able to meet your needs.”

Yang Wendong laughed and said, "Your idea is good, but it's not worth it for me to spend so much money just for a few students. With that money, I can recruit talent from overseas, can't I?"

"That depends on the outcome of the negotiations between the two parties. Talented individuals from universities like Tsinghua and Peking University would be of great help to you. Recruiting from overseas would be very costly. As for the equipment to be supported, not all of it will be expensive; some of it will be quite simple," Director Lin added.

"So you're asking me to use foreign exchange to exchange for high-quality graduates?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Theoretically, this method isn't impossible, but there are other conditions required."

Upon hearing that there was hope, Director Lin quickly asked, "What are the conditions?"

Yang Wendong said, "I can provide you with some equipment, but universities in the mainland also need to accept some research and development tasks assigned by us. Once the research and development is successful, the patent technology will belong to us, and the equipment can be given to you after completion."

If the task cannot be completed within the stipulated time, the equipment will need to be returned. And if this happens repeatedly, we will abandon the partnership. What I hope for is a long-term collaboration with a team of top talent.

In fact, after Honor Electronics has developed to this level, there are many technologies that need to be developed. There is a dedicated team in Hong Kong, and the same is true for the US and UK branches.
He originally wanted to conduct research and development in mainland China, but in the early 80s, it would have been difficult to gather enough top talents from the mainland.
But top universities are not lacking in these people; they lack equipment, while they lack talent, which is a good match.
This is essentially outsourcing scientific research. In Europe and America, many large companies sponsor universities to help complete such tasks, and they can also get tax breaks.
Of course, the specific projects and equipment depend on the situation. If the equipment is too expensive, then it won't work. The most common equipment is computers, since his main research and development is in the gaming industry. Giving him some computers is a piece of cake, since his company produces them, and the cost is much lower than the selling price.

Moreover, having Honor computers be the first thing the elites of society come into contact with will greatly help its future sales in China.

This achieves multiple goals at once.

"Patents? There aren't any laws on that in mainland China yet." People at Director Lin's level are familiar with overseas business rules.

Yang Wendong said, "We can just agree on the terms in the contract. There are still patents overseas, but we'll talk about patents in mainland China once there's a patent law there. Also, for each different project, we'll need to negotiate separately what equipment is involved."

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)