On Integration of Corporate Operations into BE Courses

Abstract. With the rapid development of e-commerce under the globalization， international trade is roaring up as well. Such increase in e-business created a gap between the demand and supply of BE talents， esp. those of e-business. Yet on the other hand， most academies with BE majors in China are sticking to the traditional schedule of talent cultivation， focusing on the language skills and cultural knowledge. Some colleges have detected new modes for such BE talent cultivation by integrating foreign trade firms into the BE courses and have provides us with many valuable inspirations. Study of the cases can offer more practical tips on such cooperation， so far as the academies are ready to adopt to the new situation and reform their teaching schedules. Study shows that such cooperation is beneficial to the academies， to the firms， and above all， to the students.

Key words： Business English courses， School-enterprise cooperation， internship， e-business

1. Introduction

In today’s China， all of the 1260 colleges and universities have established English departments ， and are mostly shifting from academic study of the language and its cultures to the application in the rapidly-developing economy and most of them have business English as a major or major direction. As per Wang Jingyi ， of the 1109 vocational institutes in China， 715 offer courses in BE majors. In Jiangsu province along， 37 of the 80 vocational institutes offer BE majors. As English is a must for most international businessmen now， the practical features of such courses or majors can never be overemphasized.

In most western colleges and universities， ESP emerged as an important section of English teaching in the late 1920s with the development of various theories， and special emphasis has been laid on ESP in the world foreign language reforms， focusing on the applicability of such courses. Take the Australian TAFE program for instance， it has not only turned out thousands of qualified operators for various industries in Australia， but also won great popularity among most European and Southeast Asian countries. Its success lies in its focus on practical operating skills. In Shanghai， China TAFE is taking root in some vocational colleges， but still far from being widely accepted or practiced. The Chinese English professors at colleges and universities seem more adopted to their traditional methods focusing on the grammar， the vocabulary， translation theories， literature and other academic aspects when teaching English. Just too many English graduates prefer to become an English teacher to pass on the knowledge acquired from their forerunners， though few would find jobs in BE that will take them another period to be further educated by the employer for practical operations.

Therefore， more and more Chinese firms engaged in FT， in their quest for talents in BE， would rather participate in the campus education rather than waiting to waste another year or even longer to further educate the English graduates in their companies.

On the other hand， too many English majors find themselves complete confused about their practical operations when assigned duties concerning their majors， and some even travel abroad to take further courses on BE， not only wasting money but also their precious time. Thus the parents get not only puzzled about our higher education but also somewhat disappointed or even annoyed.

Therefore， it’s not necessary but urgent to integrate corporate operations into our campus courses in BE. As it’s always easier said than done， we have to go into details about such an issue and this paper is means to offer some general guidance in this respect.

2. Present situation concerning BE courses in China

In response to the prevailing market demand and the latest development in global higher education， the Chinese government established BE as a new major at colleges and universities. Many new textbooks or revised versions of previous textbooks are prevailing the market. Yet the actual situation in practical lecturing on the campus is by no means encouraging or even satisfactory. We are facing various problems ranging from the teaching material to the teaching faculty. Such problems can be generally categorized as below.

2.1 Outdated teaching materials

According to a rough survey of textbooks concerning BE in the library of University of International Business and Economics， 73% were published before 1990， and only 8% were published or revised in the recent 5 years. About 73% of the BE courses in UIBE adopt overseas textbooks or manuscripts composed by the professors themselves. Most other colleges or universities offering BE courses in China follow textbooks composed and published in China as they are not allowed sufficient alternatives. As we are all aware， time of publication is not the unique criteria to assess a textbook， and some classic textbooks may be reprinted many times. So， what about the BE textbooks in China？

Presently the BE textbooks prevailing China market may be categorized into two： one category composed by veterans in BE education in China. Such textbooks are elegant in dictation and compliant with typical structural criteria， but seldom practically valuable. On the one hand， the dictation are mostly outdated， and on the other， such elegant dictation will not help much in successful transactions， and still another， the structures， especially the so-called inside address of a post letter， for instance， is seldom adopted now except for some rare and official communications. At such an IT age， efficiency is the prime concern， and even faxes， emails are falling behind in business communications， and are replaced by MSN， Skype， QQ， etc. where the trading parties may have direct real-time conversations and where various internet languages are abundantly used. So， to just list the tip of the iceberg， who would bother to write a letter and post it to reach the other end unless absolutely necessary？ And even in such post letters， who would bother about the inside address？

The other category， composed by the younger generation of college professors in BE and published in more recent years， are better updated in dictation and in structure， focusing more on the contemporary business styles. But still， working behind closed doors as it says， such composer have seldom served any firms in FT and know too little of the practical operational procedures in a foreign trade firm and such textbooks can hardly serve anyone in guiding him/her in concluding a deal successfully and efficiently. One of the most striking ignorance is the subject line for a business message. Very few， if not none at all， of the textbooks have instructed the reader the importance of such a line， not to mention going to details about how to compose it. Yet as we know， a client of any product or a retailer or wholesaler in any business may receive at least dozens of promotional letters everyday in the email inbox. Just imagine how you would skim such letters or messages if you were in their position？ Do you spend more than 7 second to open every email and skim it through？ Seldom， except for those whose subject lines catch your eye. And the postscript part is not sufficiently exploited neither. To go one step further， the location of various information either in the body of a message or in the attachment is another important issue deserving special attention and has been equally treated as issues of nothing.

Actually there are too many problems with the prevailing BE textbooks in China that it’s impossible to discuss them one by one here in such a short essay.

2.2 Pedant professors

As mentioned above， traditionally English major at Chinese colleges and universities has been entitled the major of “English Language and Culture” or “English Language and Literature”， focusing on the language itself and its culture or literature. It makes no sense to deny the significance of such fundamental issues， but the problems is we cannot confine our teaching programs to the knowledge of the tool of language itself， we should also instruct the language learners the application of such a tool-----where to apply it and how. Undoubtedly we need some scholars to dig deep into the academic issues， but not all of us！ We teach and the students learn a foreign language to serve the society， to help with the progress in our civilization， not “art for art’s sake”.As for BE， the prime and permanent concern is communicate and conclude deals with overseas clients. But how do you know how a fruit taste without tasting it yourself？

Yet in China， even today， generation after generation， pedant professors who bulk the lecturing stage at colleges or in universities， who have never or seldom been in any FT firm， are passing their teacher’s knowledge of English the language to their students， cultivating another massive generation of scholars of English and its literature or culture. And what’s worse， instead of trying to step out of the campus and into any FT company to expand their horizon， they can well justify themselves by claiming that a teacher cannot teach everything about anything.

2.3 Impractical Teaching Programs

Generated by such pedant professors and misguided by the textbooks， many colleges and universities have established impractical teaching plans. Such plans are not in compliance with the social demand but with the academic criteria and may also serve some practical purposes of upgrading their own schools as per the government’s assessment.

3. Empirical analysis

For the above problems， many Chinese colleges and universities are making great efforts detecting satisfactory solutions according t their own situations. Some have exploited their advantages in teach facilities and some disadvantageous in facilities though， have also worked out inspiring and encouraging models for other BE colleges.

The practical case is quoted from Zhao Xiangge， a lecturer at Hebei Financial College. This case， together with another two cases between colleges and by Liu and Zhang， is quite encouraging and inspiring and deserve detailed study.

3.1 Successful cooperation between and Hebei Financial College in cultivating BE talents

1）Background of the cooperation

Established in 1999， is now the most active B2B forum and internet community for businessmen for international trade， with over 10 million internet clients covering 220 countries and regions， delivering over 8，1000，000 business messages of purchase and supply every day （of which 35% are turned into successful deals）.In China alone， it now has over 5，000，000 suppliers covering almost all industries， mostly by small- and medium-sized FT firms that account for 60% of China’s annual import and export.

Attracted by such a rapidly expanding client group， more and more Chinese FT firms intend to exploit its e-commerce platform but can hardly find enough operators. Then in 2004， set up its own Ali Business College to cultivate BE talents to serve its clients. It started with cooperation with colleges by training BE teachers for them and granted them E-commerce certificates， and by offering platforms for college BE majors to conduct practical operations. Hebei Financial College joined in 2007 to pioneer in school-enterprise cooperation in BE practical education. 2） Major cooperative programs

A. Adopting e-commerce certificates granted by

Such certificates are a systematic certification of personal e-commerce training and capability granted by after due training and examinations. It’s the first e-commerce certificate granted by a commercial firm for e-business operation in China， and one of the global leaders in this field. It has won admission by many FT firms for its e-business operation criteria. It offers Specialist Certificate for Application of Alibaba E-commerce in International Trade， and Specialist Certificate for Application of Alibaba E-commerce in Domestic Trade and Specialist Certificate for Application of Alibaba E-commerce in Internet Retailing. It focuses on the application of Alibaba e-commerce B2B platform， and candidates should be trained in winning customers， managing internet clients， internet inquiring skills in e-business （including the key skills in grasping opportunities for deals）， communicating skills in e-business， promotion by keywords， skills in avoiding trade risks on the internet， assessment of internet clients’ trustworthiness， photo-shop and publication techniques of products. All the training courses are closely related to practical operations， to the students’ expectations and thus of great attraction to the students. The students， without operating under simulated programs for international trade， have benefited more from such training.

B. Post practice by students in its clients

has developed over 300 lasting clients in FT in Baoding， Hebei Province， which demand numerous skillful operators of Alibaba e-commerce platforms to help them with the promotion of their products on the international market. Through the introduction of ， we are now establishing lasting cooperation with these lasting clients of ， sending our BE students with Alibaba e-commerce certificates there for post practice during every summer vacation. These students help the FT firms with the publication of product information on the Alibaba e-commerce platform and with their internet communication for deals. In 2008， set up a internship program called “Remote Operation” by which the students can operate and maintain the e-commerce platform for the FT firms even on campus， and help the firms expand internet deals without any time or space barriers on the internet. Therefore more and more students can participate in such internship at lower cost and less safety risk in their distant travels to the firms， and is more flexible for the students’ time management

C. Training teaching faculty for the college

In 2006， founded a program to train teachers for Alibaba e-commerce certificates and two of our BE teachers participated in the one-week Eighth Session of Workshop of Alibaba E-commerce Certificate Teachers in its Hangzhou Headquarters in Sept. and were awarded the certificate as Alibaba E-commerce Teachers. The courses taken during the workshop are of great help to them in their lectures for the certificates but also valuable in their future lectures on BE.

4. Proposals for integration between corporate operations and BE courses

From the above analysis， we can safely assume that integration of corporate operations into BE courses in academies are not only urgent but also well feasible. Then comes the question： how can we ensure the smooth operation of the cooperation？ Actually there is no definite answer， yet some key issues deserve our careful consideration.

4.1 Be well-prepared on our own side for the integration

4.1.1 Be ideologically prepared

To be ideologically prepared for the integration， we’ve got much to do. The very first is to convert perceptions of our teaching faculty. There may be various negative conceptions of the integration and some others， aware of the necessity and significance of the integration though， may be reluctant to take further courses from the FT firms （because some of the “teachers” may have been their own students before）. Therefore the greatest challenge at this stage may come from our teach faculty itself. Coupled with the conception conversion， assessment system should be innovated and reformed， as the backbone， and the government may play a better role with the macro policy baton at hand.

When the conceptions are successfully converted among the teaching faculty， we may come to the next-----promulgating the core concepts in the integration. As per Yu Lujun （Yu，2008）， integration of theory with practice in the teaching process means simultaneous and alternative teaching process of theories and practical operations at the same site， without any preset sequential priority but blending theories with practice， the abstract with the concrete. Such a new teaching mode originates in the dualist approach in German education system and is meant to break the boundaries between theoretical lectures and experiments or internship， embodying the educational concept of “learning by doing”.

And more specifically for BE courses， this mode means extending our class lecturing into the site operations in practical FT transactions， with assistance from FT firms， emphasizing the upgrading of operational skills.

Such awareness of the core concepts in the integration may greatly increase the efficiency of the school-enterprise cooperation.

4.1.2 Build a highly-efficient teaching faculty

Most of the teachers or professors at colleges are well qualified for their posts in view of their language competence and teaching skills. But what is needed for school-enterprise cooperation in BE courses is the mastery operational techniques in practical FT transactions. In this sense， many of the present teachers or professors may not be so well prepared and may need further training. So it's advisable to offer them due training in FT transaction operations so that they can master the key points and transfer them to their students. Without knowing it yourself， how can you teach anyone anything？

4.1.3 Modularize the textbooks

To maximize the effects of the school-enterprise cooperation in BE courses， it’s absolutely necessary to modularize our textbooks. Now numerous textbooks for BE are available in China. Some are of their own system and some are just idle ones without forming any system. Yet few if not none of the systematic textbooks on BE have taken internship into serious consideration and so far none has touched the issue of school-enterprise cooperation for BE internship. Professors at academies should now join hands with FT firms in coordinating and compiling new series of BE textbooks for our Chinese students.

5. Conclusions

The urgency and the significance of school-enterprise cooperation in BE courses reforms goes without saying now. Successful cases have provided the best evidence and also some valuable experience for us to learn. Yet we should never copy the case or follow the single mode of one college or one firm. We should highlight the essence from the preceding cases and adapt them to our own situations.

Whatever strategies， the final result is the final judge. We’ve got much to do in this respect and the more we practice， the better we’ll do it.

6. References

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