Majoring in millionaires

Shi Haojie, one of the college's millionaire graduates, is held up as a "model student" by his alma mater.

Dean says success has created huge demand.

When the Henan native came to the school three years ago, he could not afford the 6,000-yuan annual tuition fee. Now his company, which exports spectacles to a dozen countries, posts revenue of tens of millions of yuan each year.

The success of students like Shi, not surprisingly, has attracted thousands of applicants to the small college. It tried to run the "experimental major" on e-commerce on a small scale, but students and parents have been e-mailing, phoning and even visiting in person every day since the course became widely known as a "hotbed of millionaires", says Zhu Huabing, the course's dean.

He Ju, a second-year student from a neighboring town, said coming from a business family, he has always wanted to follow a similar path.

"After graduation, I may not work on the online store I run now, but it's a very good experience for me to start from scratch so I can take up my father's business more smoothly," says He, who began his scarf store with a laptop and a motorcycle, for transporting goods from wholesalers.

Although the business has its ups and downs, He says he can fully support himself on the profit earned, and can occasionally surprise his girlfriend with a gift of an iPhone or treat his grandfather to some fine Chinese tea.

Meanwhile, the course founder Jia, having retired as vice-president, is in demand by other vocational schools in China wanting him to share his experiences.

"Proper education is about getting students busy," he says. "Either busy reading in libraries or busy doing experiments in labs, while college students in China now are either busy playing games in dormitories or dating classmates in classrooms."

But while many have applauded Jia's unorthodox practical approach to teaching, some question whether the move has betrayed the "essence of education", taking away a vital opportunity for young people to learn and think about something other than making money.

Jia argues that there is no conflict between the two, as "it's a world with multiple needs".

"It's not possible to turn everyone into Albert Einstein or Plato," he says. "Likewise, not everyone should be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. The problem is that most schools nowadays are designed for, but not good at, training Einsteins, while leaving little space for talents like Bill Gates.

"The reason I am yelling and yearning for entrepreneurship is not because I want everyone to start a business of his own, but because nobody is doing so."

xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn