Chapter 927: Start with education

In order to persuade MacLehose, he must have something to impress and convince him. Before his think tank comes up with a complete plan, Xia Yu can only deal with other matters first.

At the beginning of the new year, there are countless matters for the Jiuding Consortium, and many of them require his approval as the top helmsman.

However, although a complete plan has not yet been put in place, there are some things that must be done, and the sooner the better, such as talent and education.

After a long day's work, Xia Yu took some time out to visit Jiuding University again.

After many months, Xia Yu saw a new look when he visited Jiuding University again.

The layout and structure of the entire school had remained largely unchanged, but there had been significant improvements in many small aspects, such as the flowers and trees along the roads on campus, various sculptures and special decorative buildings.

At least Xia Yu felt more comfortable once again when he walked through Jiuding University.

And one thing that stood out was that he encountered people in the university more frequently.

These people were basically middle-aged or older, and they were probably teachers from various universities on the mainland who had come to help with the construction of the university.

Sure enough, after meeting Wang Gengwu, Xia Yu got an exact answer from him.

'Mr Xia, do you want me to call the person in charge from each university on the mainland to come over and introduce you?'

Wang Gengwu said to Xia Yu, who was looking around, as they stood in the corridor outside the president's office in the administration building.

Xia Yu smiled and shook his head to decline Wang Gengwu's offer: 'There's no need to go to all that trouble. You just need to know the specific construction situation.'

Wang Gengwu immediately nodded and said: 'I will call a meeting every week to discuss the situation with everyone, so I can get a good grasp of the whole school and know the progress of construction in each faculty.'

'Okay, let's go inside and talk. You can tell me all about it!'

After saying this, Xia Yu turned around and walked into the principal's office, where he sat down on the sofa.

Wang Gengwu followed suit and sat down, before giving a detailed account of the situation at the university.

Xia Yu listened quietly, nodding occasionally.

Before they knew it, nearly 40 minutes had passed, and Wang Gengwu had drunk three cups of tea, finally finishing his account of the general situation at the university.

Xia Yu then spoke up, saying, 'In other words, the mainland has provided substantial support, and the teaching staff in each college is no longer a problem. The teaching design work in each college is also more than half complete, and it is expected to be fully completed in April?'

Wang Gengwu nodded and said, 'Yes, April is the most conservative deadline. If things go well, it can be completed a little earlier.'

'According to the scheduled plan, independent recruitment will follow closely behind.'

Wang Gengwu had just told Xia Yu about the independent recruitment, which took into account Xia Yu's previous suggestion, which was to target gifted students who were weak in some subjects.

Jiuding University is not a public university after all, and Wang Gengwu is not under administrative pressure, so he will not be so rigid in terms of admissions.

Moreover, he has Xia Yu as his backing, and he can also block those who come through the back door without hesitation, unless Xia Yu asks someone to come in.

According to his thinking, the more talented people who can be recruited, the more they can be put to good use, and the higher the rate of success will be, which will help to make Jiuding University famous.

Human energy is limited, while the world's knowledge is endless.

In Xia Yu's opinion, the current situation in Xiangjiang is different from that on the mainland. He needs not mediocre people who know everything but nothing in particular, but elites in a certain field!

There are indeed many talented people in the world who are specialised in certain subjects, such as Qian Zhongshu, Ji Xianlin, Luo Jialun, and Zang Kejia. If they had not been admitted to university exceptionally, they would not have received a better education, and it is hard to say whether they would have achieved as much as they did later in life!

Therefore, the independent recruitment at Jiuding University is a bright path for these talented people who are specialised in certain subjects, which is good for both the students and the university!

It is worth mentioning that Jiuding University implements the same lenient entry and strict exit system as American universities, which focuses on credits and GPA!

This gives students who are weak in certain subjects a chance to get in. University study mainly depends on oneself. Apart from basic compulsory courses, other courses can be chosen according to one's own preferences. As long as the credits are earned, it is possible to skip grades and graduate early. If the credits are not earned, then the student will repeat the grade.

That said, in addition to independent enrolment, there is also normal admission in July and August, and classes don't start until September. There's still more than half a year to go until September, so there's still plenty of time!

Xia Yu then talked about the purpose of his special trip.

'President Wang, according to your communication with the mainland education authorities and your understanding of the various universities, is the teaching staff there sufficient to allow Jiuding University to continue to expand several times?'

'By teaching staff, I mean people with real talent!'

Although Xia Yu knew that the mainland would definitely open the door to him in this regard, he not only wanted quantity but also quality. Wang Gengwu definitely knew the situation better.

Upon hearing this, Wang Gengwu pondered for a moment, nodded, and said, 'I have also visited various universities on the mainland and discussed and consulted in depth with professors involved in the reconstruction. There is no shortage of talent on the mainland. With your friendly relationship with the mainland, Mr. Xia, as long as you ask, Jiuding University can find ten times the teaching staff!'

Afterwards, he asked the question on his mind: 'Mr Xia, are you planning to expand Jiuding University in the near future?'

Xia Yu nodded slightly and said, 'Not just in the near future, I plan to strongly support the construction of education in Xiangjiang. Xiangjiang has a huge shortage of high-quality talent in all walks of life, and the current enrollment at Jiuding University is not enough!'

'If we expand the new college of science and engineering now, will it be in time for enrollment this year?'

Wang Gengwu frowned and quickly calculated in his mind.

Xia Yu didn't bother him and slowly drank from his teacup.

After a long while, Wang Gengwu said, 'Mr Xia, there is still half a year until the start of the semester. The teachers, teaching materials and curriculum design can be completed in time, so you can start enrolling students for the colleges and majors first, as long as it is done before the semester starts!'

'However, if you expand the student body, then adjustments will have to be made to the current school buildings and dormitories,'

'Jiuding University can accommodate 20,000 teachers and students. This year's enrollment plans to use a quarter of the dormitories, while the main teaching building and the teaching buildings of each college will be fully operational.'

'Each college has a single teaching building. If a new college and major are to be opened, then only two colleges can be merged to use one teaching building, because there will only be freshmen this year, and it will not seem crowded.'

'However, this is a potential hidden danger that can only last until the sophomore year, because if enrollment doubles, the entire school will be full by the sophomore year.'

Xia Yu understood what Wang Gengwu meant, and he immediately said, 'President Wang, you don't need to worry about this. I was able to build Jiuding University in one year, and it's very simple to double its size in two years.'

'I will arrange for someone to communicate and arrange for the expansion of the school. You don't need to worry about the land and construction.'

'In a while, I will call you to have a meeting together, and we will decide which colleges and majors to open at that time.'

Xia Yu's plan was to compare the current Jiuding University with the completed plan after it came out, to see what aspects of the talent training system were lacking, and then set up targeted courses.

Wang Gengwu immediately nodded and said, 'Okay, so what preparations do you need me to make these days?'

Xia Yu thought for a moment and said, 'First, find out the professional advantages of the science and engineering departments of these universities on the mainland, so that it will be convenient for the counterpart support and construction.'

'You can also mobilise your contacts to find out which professors and scientists there are at universities in the mainland other than those involved in the reconstruction effort. You may not be able to poach them from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but there are definitely many talented people who have not been selected for the Academy but are not bad at all.'

'The more names you find out, the more talent I can poach for Jiuding University. If you can't handle it, leave it to me.'

In order to help his university get more talent, Xia Yu lowered himself to ask for help from the mainland!

Xia Yu knew that although there were now two academies in China, they were not the same academies.

Currently, there was only the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which had been established at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which had been approved and established in 1978.

As for the other of the two academies, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, which represented the highest honour in the Chinese engineering and technology sector, would not be established until 1994, when it would gather some of the top engineering and technology talent in the country.

Considering the particularity of the times, there were quite a few scientists in the high-level and top-level engineering and technology fields who were not gathered by the state, and who were scattered all over the country and in the private sector.

Rather than letting them waste ten to twenty years of their lives, and even grow old with regrets, it would be better to let them make the most of their talents and come to Jiuding University, where the conditions and environment for scientific research are better, so that they can devote their lives to scientific research and create more value in their lives!

In an era without the internet, there were quite a few people who devoted themselves to scientific research!

Wang Gengwu smiled and nodded, saying, 'Okay, Mr Xia, don't worry, I'll start working on this today!'

...

Next, Xia Yu talked to Wang Gengwu for a long time, mainly asking him what difficulties he had, etc. He had someone record it and would arrange to solve it in due course.

When it was close to noon, Xia Yu went straight home. When it was time to go to work in the afternoon, he once again summoned Liu Shihao, the president of Jiuding Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.

Liu Shihao had previously been in charge of all matters related to Jiuding University and knew the situation better.

Xia Yu and Liu Shihao talked for more than 20 minutes, asking him to prepare for the expansion of Jiuding University.

The Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong covers an area of more than 47 square kilometres. At that time, Jiuding University only occupied 60 hectares of land. Calculating that one square kilometre equals 100 hectares, Jiuding University only occupied 0.6 square kilometres of land, accounting for about 1.2% of the Kowloon Peninsula.

Moreover, the expansion issue had been considered beforehand, while the Hong Kong government had thought about commercial development. Therefore, the location of Jiuding University was relatively remote Clear Water Bay in Kowloon at that time.

The Clear Water Bay development in later generations was very good, but it was still relatively deserted at the time, so there were not many people around Jiuding University, and the difficulty of demolition was minimal, which was enough to allow Jiuding University to expand more than three times.

Putting aside the matter of Jiuding University for the time being, Xia Yu, after work, set his sights on the distant European continent – France!

With the first round of voting in the presidential election only two months away, the competition between the various parties was already at a fever pitch!