Posted on Apr. 27, 2026 by Dong Quanyue|Qingdao Vocational and Technical College of Hotel Management
The National Finals of the 3rd National College Students' Career Planning Competition were held in Tianjin from April 22 to 25. Zhang Lu from the School of Culinary Arts won the silver award in the Vocational Education Employment Track, and Zhang Chen from the School of Culture and Tourism claimed the bronze award in the Vocational Education Growth Track.
The number of national awards has reached a new high, fully demonstrating the outstanding demeanor of our students.
Co-hosted by the Ministry of Education and the People's Government of Tianjin Municipality, the competition themed Chase Youth Dreams, Embrace the Nation; Chart Career Paths, Shape the Future aims to build a major classroom for career education, a platform for talent supply-demand docking and a large market for graduate employment.
Launched in October 2025, the competition has attracted over 20.55 million students from 2,833 universities nationwide. After intense rounds of university-level and provincial-level contests, only 800 contestants advanced to the national finals. Since the launch of the school-level competition, more than 11,000 students of our university have signed up for the event.
The two award-winning students stood out through multiple rounds of selection, including school contests, provincial semi-finals, provincial finals and provincial ranking matches, and finally stepped onto the national final stage. During the six-month preparation period, combining their personal career goals, the two students clarified their growth paths, improved post competency models, sorted out internship and practical experiences, and enhanced their overall employability.
At the finals, Zhang Lu delivered a presentation titled Chinese Cuisine Going Global, Sharing Flavors Worldwide. She illustrated the job responsibilities, professional competencies and internship achievements of Chinese chefs in South Korea. With solid professional expertise, clear career positioning and composed on-site responses, she claimed the silver award.
Zhang Chen presented under the theme Empowering Cultural and Tourism Future with Data, introducing the competency model, career development path and future improvement plans for tourism big data analysts. He won the bronze award with logical presentation and excellent on-site performance.
Both students embodied the enterprising and responsible spirit of our youngsters and reflected the fruitful achievements of the college’s career planning education.
The remarkable achievement reflects the college’s great emphasis on career education and employment-oriented education, and serves as a vivid practice of the school’s industry-education integration philosophy: Enterprises raise questions, colleges and enterprises work out solutions together, and the market evaluates the outcomes.
The participating teachers and students returned to campus on the afternoon of April 26. School leaders including Diao Hongbin and Han Xiqing welcomed them triumphantly.
Diao Hongbin spoke highly of their outstanding achievements and recognized their diligent efforts in preparation and competition. He encouraged them to keep forging ahead and contribute to the college’s development in future study and work.
Han Xiqing praised the students’ perseverance and noted that the hard-won awards should be taken as a new starting point. He urged them to polish professional and employability skills for long-term career development.
As one of the few institutions in the province that have qualified for the national competition for three consecutive sessions, the college will further deepen the reform of career education and leverage the educational value of competitions.
We will optimize the three-dimensional empowerment model for employment education, establish a three-level competition system covering college, provincial and national events, and foster a virtuous cycle of advancing teaching, learning and employment through competitions.
High-quality enterprises will be invited to participate in the whole process of career planning to develop a database of post competency models.
The college will continue to expand enterprise cooperation and employment channels, realize precise matching between talent supply and demand, translate competition influence into employment driving force, and fully boost high-quality and full employment for graduates.
