Pretoria: Universities and companies must work together to ensure that graduates acquire the specialised knowledge, multidisciplinary outlook, and practical experience demanded by rapidly changing industries, a senior Xiaomi executive has said. Wang Dong, the company's Vice-President of Human Resources, emphasized that businesses should become active participants in education instead of waiting for universities to produce graduates whom they could recruit and retrain.
According to South African Government News Agency, Wang was speaking during the Science and Technology Policy Thematic Forum at the Dongjiao State Guest Hotel in Shanghai on the second day of the Pujiang Innovation Forum. Notably, South Africa is participating as the first African nation designated Country of Honour.
Wang stressed that enterprises are not merely users or employers of talent; they should instead become active participants in the broader education and talent-development system. He highlighted the importance of advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, chips, intelligent manufacturing, assisted driving, and human-machine intelligence, noting their limited value unless tested in real products and industrial settings.
Xiaomi, a consumer-centered electronics and smart manufacturing company, is actively placing robots in automobile factories to expose the technology to actual manufacturing conditions. The immediate objective is not to deploy robots as a fully productive industrial workforce but to use factories as testing grounds that guide technological development.
Despite rapid technological advances, Wang emphasized that people remain central to industrial development. Xiaomi has recruited approximately 3,700 hardware professionals in 2026 and 15,000 employees over the past three years across various fields, including computer science, electronic information, mechanical engineering, materials science, and vehicle engineering.
The company's experience has revealed three major changes in the skills required by industry: deeper professional expertise, broader knowledge across disciplines, and practical ability to address complex industrial problems. Wang suggested that companies should communicate industrial needs to universities and engage in educational collaborations to help students understand long-term technological challenges.
Xiaomi has transformed its experience into course material delivered by frontline employees, with some courses integrated into university credit systems. The company has moved parts of its workplace engineering training into universities, covering 15 partner institutions and training over 4,000 students.
In addition, Xiaomi's university partnerships include courses, training camps, joint research centers, industry lecturers, research funds, and support for commercializing research. The aim is for students to encounter real industrial conditions and for technology to strengthen talent development, enabling graduates to adapt to employment more quickly.
In parallel, South Africa hopes to secure new partnerships and enhance its scientific capabilities through its participation in the forum. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Professor Blade Nzimande highlighted the country's pursuit of closer collaboration with China in fields such as artificial intelligence, joint research centers, space science, and cybersecurity. Mlungisi Cele, Director-General of the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation, noted that South Africa could learn from China's ability to connect scientific research, industrial development, and private-sector investment.