The Taiyuan Institute of Technology, in the city of Taiyuan, in Shanxi province has built a multipurpose vocational center for students that contains several dozen simulated jobs to increase students' competitiveness and get them prepared in advance, reports china.com.cn, on Nov 11.

The school spent 4 million yuan ($628,000) on the 780-square–meter practice center to provide students an environment where they could experience the job market and try out for various kinds of jobs and get practical experience for their future career.

The center has eight rooms or "zones" for manufacturing, trade service, governmental, and financial service, which also cover logistics, bidding, service-oriented work, and administration and students can get a feel for what it's like to be, say, a tax commissioner, company CEO, or head of a bank, according to one advisor, Du Juan, who says, "Students really like to take part in the program."

One student, Zhao Wei, who says he has a dream of starting his own business one day, comments on the center by saying, "The program let me know that a CEO needs to understand markets to reduce risks and make a profit for the company and this program makes me more confident."

In addition, the dean of the economics and management department, Xie Jianguo, explains, "The first-hand experience students get at the center, can give them a detailed understanding of the position they are interested in to complement the knowledge they get from books and in class."

Students get tax bureau experience at the vocational center in Taiyuan Institute of Technology. [Photo/china.com.cn]