This story relates to the YiWu college (http://www.ywu.cn/) who has nickname of being TaoBao University (equivalent of ebay university), it is not training for people to work for TaoBao, but using the TaoBao system to run business.. typically buy low sell high type of trading.
the above story described how short-term the view is, if students are only trained to use the present platforms to do lifestyle business (mostly using manpower vs systems) rather than building for the future/big business, it argued that they will become unemployed/unemployable in the future.
another similar story: “淘宝大学”, 一场短视教育的赌博 where it is even saying it is in fact a 'gamble' to study there..
This is very typical the challenge in China, where, the power that be might not be in the position of power long, hence they are most likely to be making 'non controversial' decisions.. to re-position the college to teach 'entrepreneurial' activities would have been a big 'leap of faith' already (I don't know the history) but in order to pass that, and get the trustees/owners to say ok, no doubt they position and customise the course in such a way that it is understood.. i.e. doing businesses on TaoBao.. it would seem that (I did see a Phoenix TV program on this topic) this was really the case, where a small proportion of students (better performing) are selected to join the more exclusive entrepreneurial course, where literally, students are encouraged AND expected to maintain their online store, source, distribute and send off orders during and after lectures.. some successful students would hire others to assist them.. more successful they are, more work they have, more things to manage, and less time to sleep NOR study... NOR relax..
for some in europe, this would be a dream course .. but not sure if they would have the dedication to make that happen...
the better way, some might argue (like the two articles above) would be to educate and train a 'well rounded' entrepreneur and get them ready for the wider world and able to create another TaoBao rather than 'using' TaoBao..
However, this does not address the key issue, i.e. what are the students capability/potential, what they could do, and what market may need (like a proper MBA)... but all these discussion might be meaningless, as those small percentage of successful entrepreneurs (apparently 7 out of 95) were and still probably are very happy and they might already are hiring most of the co-horts...
therefore, if this was the case, it might be a brilliant course for others to adopt not only in China/Asia but also rest of Europe and indeed UK... as it solves a big problem: Job creation!
big challenge in the western world is that the work force has been 'numbed and disincentivised to work by the benefit culture (vs workfare of US). as a result, people just are NOT driven to work.. see my previous blog based on a Sunday-times article by broadcaster John Humphries.
in short, it is a good 'problem' to have for Yiwu students, gamble or not gamble!
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