Neo-agriculture education is a major strategy of China to revitalize higher education in agriculture and forestry, and the integration of production and education and collaborative education are inevitable to improve the quality of talent training in agriculture and forestry. However, there are some “bottleneck” problems in the operation process, such as lack of innovation drive, insufficient integration effort, absence of collaborative education mechanism, and misalignment of school and enterprise demands. In order to solve these problems, the College of Animal Science applied for a national neo-agriculture project “Exploration and Practice of ‘Innovative, Integrated, Collaborative and Sharing’ Model of Talent Cultivation in Animal Production”, which has been approved by the Ministry of Education recently. The project, focusing on strengthening moral education and cultivating people, oriented by the talent and technology demand of national animal husbandry industry, targeting at forming an education model featuring the integration and collaboration of production and education, aims to foster a new ‘Innovative, Integrated, Collaborative and Sharing’ model of talent cultivation in animal production featuring the integration and collaboration of production and education according to the overall deployment of the China on neo-agriculture education, through driving innovation with theories and practice, deepening the integration of industry and education and interdisciplinary research, exploring collaborative education systems and mechanisms, and promoting cooperation and sharing, etc.

In order to further promote the neo-agriculture education, on August 28, 2020, Mr. Zhang Jiabao, Dean of the College of Animal Science led a delegation of 7 people to Liaoning Changsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in Benxi City to investigate the internship and training base of the School of Animal Science, Jilin University for neo-agriculture education, signed a cooperation agreement and attended an opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was witnessed by Yang Ke, Director of the Office of Biomedicine of the Department of Science & Technology of Liaoning Province and an official of Changsheng Company.

Liaoning Changsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd., covering an area of 50 acres, is a manufacturing enterprise mainly engaged in standardized, specialized and large-scale production of laboratory animals and related products. It has been supported by the “National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China” of the “11th Five-Year Plan” and the “12th Five-Year Plan”, and is the largest manufacturer of laboratory animals in Northeast China. The company has a fixed capital of RMB 120 million, and has built a large-scale, high-grade barrier workshop of 10,400 square meters that meets the national standard for laboratory animals, and a feed production workshop of 1,500 square meters for laboratory animals. Since 2012, Jilin University has sent 8 batches of more than 300 undergraduate students to the company for internship and achieved good results. Mr. Wang Quanxin, Chairman of Liaoning Changsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. extended a warm welcome to the delegation, led them to visit related internship facilities, laboratory animal barrier facilities and logistics facilities, and introduced the current situation of the company in detail. He looked forward to further deepening the cooperation with the College of Animal Science of Jilin University, and promoting the comprehensive cooperation in personnel training, scientific research cooperation and achievement transformation.

Zhang Jiabao introduced the development of the college and the talent training model to the enterprise. He said that the neo-agriculture project “Exploration and Practice of ‘Innovative, Integrated, Collaborative and Sharing’ Model of Talent Cultivation in Animal Production”, applied by the college and the company had been approved by the Ministry of Education recently. The College would take this opportunity to establish post-doctoral research center, internship and training base in the company, carry out industry-university-research exchanges and discussions, and establish a mechanism for scientific and technological development. He hoped that a win-win situation could be achieved among students, the college and the enterprise through cooperation between the college and the enterprise.

Zhang Jiabao signed a cooperation agreement with Liaoning Changsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. on behalf of the College of Animal Science, Jilin University. The “Internship and Training Base of College of Animal Science, Jilin University” was inaugurated by Sun Boxing, Deputy Director of the college and Wang Quanxin, Chairman of the company. The “Postdoctoral Scientific Research Center of College of Animal Science, Jilin University” was inaugurated by Zhang Mingjun, Deputy Director of the college and Wang Zhiqin, General Manager of the company. This activity initiated the model of integration of production and education of animal production specialty in the College of Animal Science, and further promoted the pace of neo-agriculture education.