Employability, skills and talent management in Zhejiang Province

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a three‐year PMI2 project for the British Council in 2008, one of seven to develop and strengthen partnerships with Chinese institutions in employability and entrepreneurship. Involving a partnership between Leeds Metropolitan University England and the Zhejiang University of Technology Hangzhou, China, the aim has been to analyse the Hangzhou and Zhejiang economies and examine current Chinese company requirements for skills and talent and their implications for teaching and learning and graduate supply. This was intended to strengthen the existing partnerships at a civic level between Leeds and Hangzhou and the successful MA in Trade and Finance run by the two universities.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on preliminary interview studies in China of Hangzhou companies in different industrial sectors to analyse the skill and talent needs of such companies, their demands for graduate talent in particular and their views about the adequacy of the supply of that talent from local and national universities.

Findings – The paper clarifies the relationship between talent demand and supply in China, especially with regard to graduate talent, and presents an original analysis of the skill needs of the Hangzhou economy.

Originality/value – The paper suggests ways in which universities in Zhejiang and China generally could strengthen their engagement with businesses over talent demand and supply, and how they could develop courses and programmes that more effectively bridge the gap between universities and businesses.