Failing a class is not a big deal in this college

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Is failing a class in college a big deal? For most Chinese students the answer is yes, as you will be put on academic probation. But for some students in Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College in east China’s Zhejiang Province, the answer is a confident “no”.

A recent interview video released by Zhejiang Daily Press Group on China’s twitter-like Weibo has divided social media users.

The Vice Dean of the Entrepreneurship Department of the Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College. /Screenshot from the video

In the video, the Vice Dean of the Entrepreneurship Department of the college, Pang Haisong claimed that a student who failed seven courses successfully finished the school and was even recommended as a provincial outstanding graduate candidate, merely because the student succeeded as an entrepreneur.

Pang also said the school preferred a student who showed excellent ability in starting a business to students who only achieved good grades at school. “Students can apply for exemption from the examination with their entrepreneurial achievements,” the vice dean added.

Screenshot from the Weibo comments.

Pang’s remarks were considered as an advertisement of this vocational college and got a lot of online support. “Knowledge starts with practice and personal ability is more important than scores,” said a Weibo user @Xiaoxiaoding.

“Flexible ways of assessing talent should be advocated. It is smart to adopt a success-oriented standard for business studies, otherwise it would have been a waste of time,” another user @Yujingzhixin said.

Screenshot from the Weixin comments.

However, many netizens take the opposite view and criticize the school’s logic. “Isn’t it a sign that the college doesn’t have anything to teach and there is no need to attend school?”

“Rules are rules. Passing the test is every student’s obligation. Many skeptics hold the belief that starting a business shouldn’t be an excuse for failing tests, not to mention be hailed as a entrepreneurial model.

The college's e-commerce workshop. /Screenshot from the video

In the video, the dean said out of the 54 teachers at the school, there are 27 with actual business experience. The school sets up a cross-border e-commerce workshop on campus where the students have already achieved monthly sales of more than 20,000 US dollars.

Yiwu City, where the college is based, has grown from a nameless Chinese county to a rich e-commerce platform within a few decades and now is home to the world’s biggest small commodity wholesale market. Whether the school’s policy is appropriate or not, there is no doubt the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of the locals should be credited to the city’s success.