East China Area Representative:
Founder
October 2023 East China Report
Greetings! As the representative of the East China Division of the Asia-Pacific Career Association, I am honored to present to you the latest developments in the career field in East China.
First and foremost, we must recognize the status of East China in the nation. Referring to it as the “foremost region” is by no means an exaggeration. East China has consistently excelled in various fields, especially in the realm of career development, always leading the nation. This also implies the greater responsibility we bear, necessitating continuous advancement and leading the nation’s developmental trends.
Against this backdrop, PAC Company, with its exceptional expertise and experience, has actively participated in establishing a comprehensive career education mechanism in the Minhang District of Shanghai over the past five years. From teacher training systems and counseling platforms to teaching materials and lesson plans for teachers, PAC has made profound impacts at every step. This has been a challenging endeavor, but we understand its significance to Minhang District and even the entire East China region.
However, after in-depth research and discussions, we identified a relatively weak link – the certification system for students’ understanding of careers, which should accompany students from elementary school to university.
After all, in Asian culture, parents play a crucial role in the education and growth of their children. Asian children generally emphasize collective consciousness of family and nation. This stands in contrast to many Western countries where individual values often predominate. Therefore, we suggest forming a certification development group centered around China or Singapore. The purpose of this group is to establish a curriculum for parents and set clear standards for students’ career cognition at every educational stage, followed by certification.
Through these measures, we can promote career education swiftly and efficiently, ensuring that career education isn’t misunderstood or overly interpreted due to parents’ personal expectations.
In conclusion, the promotion and enhancement of career education require the joint efforts of schools, parents, and society. We, the Asia-Pacific Career Association, must play the role of the leader, guiding everyone in the right direction.
Thank you once again for your support and trust. Let’s join hands and continue to write brilliant chapters for career education in East China!
ChinaNCDA(PAC) participates in 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Service (CIFTIS) with from 2nd to 6th September in Beijing. As an important international professional organization, NCDA fully showcases the latest concepts and achievements in international career development. China NCDA and its certified Career Professionals promote the widespread implementation and application of career development, career education, and career counseling in China together with Education Administration, University, primary and secondary schools, etc.
CIFTIS is hosted by Ministry of Commerce, PRC and Beijing Municipal People’s Government which focusing on the annual theme of “Opening up Leads Development, Cooperation Delivers the Future”, this year’s CIFTIS featured 155,000 square meters of exhibitions and displays, 10 summits,
102 thematic forums, 18 side events, and 72 Promotional business talks. Over 2,400 onsite exhibitors and more than 6,700 online exhibitors participated. As of 12:00 on September 6, nearly 280,000 visitors had attended, resulting in more than 1,100 achievements, further enhancing international participation and influence.
China’s President Xi Jinping addressed the Global Trade in Services Summit via video on the morning of September 2. He proposed the direction and path for China and other countries to jointly promote the services sector and trade in services in four areas: opening up, cooperation, innovation and sharing. He proclaimed the positive will and firm determination to open up wider to the world, deepen cooperation and jointly promote development. This demonstrated China’s sense of duty as a responsible major country, building broad consensus and injecting strong power for global economic recovery and sustainable development. He Lifeng, vice premier of the State Council, declared the opening of the fair. Beninese President Patrice Talon attended the fair onsite and delivered a speech. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and Mathias Cormann, secretary-general of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, delivered video speeches. During the 2023 CIFTIS, ministerial-level guests and representatives from 42 countries and regions, as well as envoys from relevant countries in China, and representatives from international organizations attended the CIFTIS onsite, with nearly 800 participants attending the conference onsite and 300 participating online. Ms. Ivy Liao, Chief Representative of Greater China and Southeast Asia, NCDA was honored to be invited to attend the summit.
Ms. Ivy Liao, Chief Representative of Greater China and Southeast Asia, NCDA was invited to deliver a keynote speech of AI led career counseling and educational quality improvement during the AI and Education digital transformation forum. She has interpreted the basic differences in education between the East and the West, explored the future trends and possibilities of combining AI with education, provided an in-depth analysis and judgment have been made on the impact of AI on educational reform, promotion of educational content updates, and improvement of quality management effectiveness in educational scenarios. Career education is defined as ability education, which aims to help people explore, understand, develop, and achieve themselves from a young age, ultimately contributing to society and humanity. AI plays a role in promoting educational reform, transforming teachers into assistants for students’ knowledge learning, rather than the only source of knowledge. The future of career education will inevitably be the combination of humanities and technology, serving the improvement of people’s literacy through technology.
In today’s society, with the emergence of new technologies, the patterns and paths of career development are also undergoing profound changes. Therefore, communication, learning, and cooperation with global peers have become particularly important. We firmly believe that by actively participating in the CIFTIS, we can build a broader cooperation and exchange platform for practitioners and researchers in career development both domestically and internationally, thereby jointly promoting progress and innovation in the field of career development.
May 2022 East China Report
by Dr. Brian Schwartz
The situation in East China has been problematical since the outbreak of the Omicron Variant of Covid in February of this year. A wave of lockdowns of varied severity have been imposed on many of the cities and counties in East China with the most serious outbreak in Shanghai in March. However, my city of Suzhou has been locked down except for ½ day since February 14th. The crisis has seen major disruptions to the national economy of China and to many local economies.
The entire service sector is in a drastic tailspin as normal direct customer contact is generally restricted if not impossible during this time. In Suzhou, a city of 15 million neighboring Shanghai (25 million residents) many malls are either shut down or only have limited ground floor businesses open. There is no dining indoors so restaurants that are able, only have takeout or delivery services. However, delivery services have been disrupted as have taxi services and some public transportation suspended as residents have been urged to work from home and only leave their compounds for urgent or emergency matters. There is no food emergence as exists in Shanghai where even those with vast wealth have had difficulty getting enough food for themselves and their families. Employment is severely cut back but recruiting, though conducted primarily online, continues on a virtual basis as there is a mass exodus of foreigners back to their home countries. The political implications of Shanghai’s far less effective Covid response are enormous as President Xi’s political base substantially includes Shanghai’s leadership and adjoining Zhejiang’s provincial leadership as well.
The political implications of Shanghai’s far less effective Covid response are enormous as President Xi’s political base substantially includes Shanghai’s leadership and adjoining Zhejiang’s provincial leadership as well. The serious undermining of confidence in their municipal government has caused large problems for the ascension of Shanghai’s leadership for very high-level promotions to national governmental bodies this coming fall for the once every 5 year political assignments. President Xi is seeking a third 5-year term.
Our attempts to organize an All China Career Development Association has been put in mothballs as there is little to no energy to deal with survival issues of practitioners and associated HR professionals as life here takes on a form of suspended animation not unlike what was common in the West at the height of their struggle with Covid. Complicating life here and also affecting the local and national economy is the war in Ukraine where the world holds its breath as China and India basically sit on the sidelines while Russia and Ukraine, backed by NATO, slug it out. China has clearly signalled that it wants to avoid being impacted by the deep sanctions inflicted on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine with GDP projections being reduced from 5.5 to 4.8 and even 4.4% for the year. China will have its largest class of university graduates, approaching 10 million, in July, 2022 and has the need to generate 13 million new jobs. With its real estate sector in a serious downturn and stock market losing and inflation beginning to hit all citizens, there is an increased concern that China is heading for a recession. The work of career and life design counselors and coaches will be severely impacted by a dynamically changing economic and social landscape.
November 2021 East China Report
by Dr. Brian Schwartz
As I was just appointed a few weeks ago there has been little time to gather information. Following through on Marilyn Maze’s introduction, I introduced myself to PAC’s Ivy Liao requesting their help in organizing an all-China conference in 2022 of career services professionals. In addition, I have contacted our South China Country Representative, Elisabeth Montgomery, who has pledged her support for such a conference.>
I am composing an email to go to our more than 400 Suzhou Success Partners graduates and training attendees inviting them to become members of APCDA in a kick off to recruit at least 100 new East China members before the end of this year.
Remembering the PAC Conference in Shanghai
By Dr. Claire Ouyang, APCDA Macau Representative
December 13-14, 2019, People Achievement Consulting (PAC) held its 3rd Annual International Career Development Conference in Shanghai.
As the strategic partner of NCDA since 2011, PAC offers the Facilitating Career Development training program and credentialing services in China and beyond. This year’s conference discussed opportunities and challenges for the career development industry in China. From an industrial perspective, keynote speakers elaborated the global trend of talent development and challenges caused by Artificial Intelligence. From the educational perspective, discussions focused on the crucial role of career education in national educational development strategies and needs for career education and guidance in school settings as responds to the college entrance exam policy reformation in Mainland China. Front-line practitioners also shared successful experience and reflections during breakout sessions of the two-day conference followed by workshops Attendees demonstrated their aspiration to elevate their practical abilities and skills.APCDA was represented at this year’s conference by the Keynote Speaker Prof. Rebecca Dedmond and her in-depth observations on the global trend of educational reformation. Past President and Research Committee Chair Prof. Hsiu-Lan (Shelley) Tien, Macao Representative Dr. Claire Ouyang, and Taiwan Representative Anne Chen also attended the conference.
Prof. Hsiu-Lan Tien received the Outstanding Chinese Career Development Professional Award for her continuous devotion to nurturing and inspiring career scholars and practitioners in China and beyond. This award aims to honor and pass down an individual’s profound academic influence in the field of career development on Chinese cultural society. Prof. Tien shared her insights with the audience about the transforming yet solid role of career counselors nowadays after receiving this award. She also provided a workshop introducing updated educational policies and trends which will be implemented in career curriculum design in Taiwan after the conference. Those sharing received warm responses from attendees.
China's 3rd Career Conference
New Elite Development Plan (NEDP) hosted the 3rd China Career Conference in Beijing on June 12th, 2015. Sponsors included the China Career Development Association (CCDA) and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China (MOHRSS). The annual China Career Development Conference became a great event in the career development field of China.
The theme for this year’s conference was “The Transformation of Career: Challenges and Opportunities.” Thirty four guest speakers were invited to share their ideas on the theme, including the current president of CCDA, Mr. Gu Dian. Professor Ryan Duffy from the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida also presented a speech titled “Help Others, Help Yourself: How to achieve happiness in the evolving world,” which was a big success. In the afternoon,
the conference program involved discussion forums across the 3 themes of: (i) the University, (ii) the High School, (iii) the Industry/Enterprise. There were more than 4 speakers leading a forum for each of the themes. Later in the afternoon, there was an “Open House” which facilitated an exciting exchange of ideas between 15 advisers and attendees through open discussions. In total, over 500 people attended the conference.
Here are some links to the media report about the 2015 conference:
- From Youku News:
- https://cica.org.au/category/news/
- From Youku News:
- https://cica.org.au/category/news/
PAC Trains Career Development Advisors for China
By Ivy Liao
There are many companies providing training for career development advisors in China. One of these is the PAC Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd (www.pactest.com). PAC stands for People Achievement Consulting. PAC reported on its program at the NCDA Conference in Denver. For 22 years, PAC has been providing assessments for doctors in Taiwan and China. It currently offers 10 assessments in the areas of interests, character, abilities, and adaptation. Since 2008, it has also offered computerized assessments and information systems. PAC takes pride in the quality of the training it provides in the use and interpretation of these assessments, It also offers career planning camps for high school students and their parents where the youth plan their careers, with a follow-up “parents club” that meets monthly after the camp ends.
PAC Management Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd also offers a complete training program based on the NCDA Career Development Facilitator curriculum (which has been localized for China). In cooperation with several government agencies in China, PAC provides training and has developed an online training management system to allow independent master trainers to evaluate the learning of students and award certification to qualified Career Development Advisors. These evaluations are conducted anonymously to assure that strict standards are maintained. This system for managing the certification of Career Development Advisors impressed the NCDA attendees, as well as the training quality standards described by PAC.