Chapter 216
The idea of starting a university suddenly came to Ye Manzhi. The idea was not mature, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt that it was feasible.
These days, high-level talents are almost non-transferable, and job transfers require the signature and consent of the original unit.
Unless there is an adjustment by the higher authorities, it is rare to succeed in poaching people.
Precisely because of the lack of talent circulation, Shuguang Factory should put more effort into training engineers. Once trained, they are their own and others cannot poach them.
Miao Sufen sighed, "The university is so big, how many teachers do we need to find?"
"Workers' universities don't need to be too big," Ye Manzhi said. "Newspapers have reported on the Shanghai Machine Tool Plant and the Liuzhou Steel Plant establishing workers' universities. They only offered one or two majors and enrolled a few dozen students."
Tian Chunshan nodded and said, "I've seen that news too. The factory's decision to open a university should be based on business needs. We should cultivate talent in the areas that the factory urgently needs."
I don't know whether Ye Manzhi hit the target by accident or did it on purpose.
The idea of establishing a university is actually quite interesting, and is similar to the implementation of the "Angang Constitution".
Tian Chunshan has two sons and one daughter. His two sons have all gone to work in the countryside.
Last year, when the city asked various units to recommend workers, peasants and soldiers to go to college, Tian Chunshan had an idea. He wanted his two sons to think of a way with the commune. If they could be recommended to go to college, they could return to the city with a legitimate reason.
Since it was the first year of recommendation, no one knew what these workers, peasants and soldiers college students were, so he specifically looked for newspapers to study the relevant reports.
The university at the Shanghai Machine Tool Factory, whose full name is "July 21 Workers' University", was founded in accordance with Comrade Chairman Mao's "July 21 Directive".
The main point of this instruction was that universities of science and engineering should continue to operate and that students should be selected from workers and farmers with practical experience.
After that, all colleges and universities also recruited workers, peasants and soldiers as students according to this instruction.
If Shuguang Factory also sets up a workers' university, no matter what the training results are, at least the direction will not be wrong.
Tian Chunshan made his position clear: "I support the establishment of a workers' university. We need to launch the television project, and we also need engineers for the electric fan project. If we train revolutionary engineers from among the workers now, we won't have to worry about hiring in the next five to ten years. However, inviting teachers may be more difficult."
"That's no problem," Huang He chuckled. "Some universities claim to be open to the public, so their teachers have to go out and give lectures in factories and rural areas. We can invite teachers from those open universities to come to the factory and give lectures to the workers!"
After careful consideration, he also felt that the idea of establishing a workers' university was a good one.
Teachers' salaries are borne by colleges and universities. They only need to give teachers some transportation, food and accommodation subsidies, and some food coupons and meat coupons, and they can gain dozens of high-level technical talents in two or three years.
Great deal!
Ye Manzhi asked, "What do you think? If it's feasible, let's discuss it carefully."
"If there's a teacher and it doesn't cost anything, then let's do it!"
No one had any objections, but Ye Manzhi asked the factory office and the personnel department to collect relevant information. After much discussion and confirmation that it was feasible, she temporarily organized an enlarged meeting of several teams, calling together representatives of the Youth League Committee, the Trade Union, the Women's Federation, and workers from each workshop to vote.
It was passed unanimously with 87 votes.
The name of the school was decided on the spot as "Binjiang Shuguang Machinery Factory 721 Workers' University"!
In Ye Manzhi's opinion, running a university is much easier than poaching people from all over the place.
Shuguang Factory has an idle workshop. They cleaned it up, put tables and chairs in it, and hired a few teachers to start classes.
After reporting to the city, the factory party committee invited teachers and quickly announced the admission details.
When recommending workers, peasants and soldiers to join the college last year, there were only three vacancies in the entire factory, and many workers who were not selected felt very regretful.
Therefore, after the enrollment brochure was announced, all the employees in the factory were shocked!
"Fangfang, Fangfang, stop it! Go outside and take a look!"
"What's wrong?" Lv Fangfang observed the casting in her hand. "What's the rush?"
"The enrollment brochure for July 21 University has been posted!" Su Xiumei panted, pointing outside. "Go check it out! There are 60 spots available this time!"
With a clang, the iron lump in her hand fell onto the workbench. Lv Fangfang asked hurriedly, "Why are you hiring so many people? What are the requirements? Or are they recommended by the company?"
"Oh, you'll know when you go and see it!"
The bulletin board at the door was bustling with workers.
The two stood at the outside of the crowd and could only stand on tiptoe to look inside.
"Chen Zhisheng," Lv Fangfang stretched her neck and shouted, "Read to everyone what's on the red paper!"
Chen Zhisheng, standing in the front row, cleared his throat and shouted, "Young comrades, fellow workers! We have experienced twenty-two years of the socialist spring. Our revolutionary task is glorious and arduous! To realize the grand blueprint of the Four Modernizations outlined by the great leader, we need to cultivate a large team of both red and professional people and march towards scientific and technological modernization!"
"In accordance with the spirit of the 'July 21st Directive,' our factory officially established the 'Binjiang Shuguang Machinery Factory July 21st Workers' University.' Our workers' university is one of the revolutionary melting pots that train and cultivate this team..."
Everyone held their breath and listened to his loud recitation, and couldn't help but clench their palms nervously.
This is a university! A university!
Who wouldn't want to go to college?
Hundreds of people at the scene remained silent at the same time, waiting for Chen Zhisheng to introduce the next content.
"A total of 60 students will be enrolled this time, divided into two majors: electronics and mechanics. In accordance with the July 21 directive's requirement to shorten the academic system, our school's academic system will be two years, full-time."
"Recruitment scope: All workers and workshop technicians in the factory. Enrollment requirements: Age 40 or below, good political and ideological thinking, good health, and junior high school education or above."
Chen Zhisheng raised his voice and said, "Now here are the selection requirements. Everyone, listen carefully!"
Lu Fangfang and Su Xiumei clasped hands, nervously waiting for the most important content.
"Anyone who meets the admission requirements can apply. This selection is divided into three stages."
"The first stage is political review."
"The second stage is the written examinations on ideology and politics and Chinese language. 200 candidates will be selected for admission based on merit. National model workers, advanced individuals, and March 8th Red Banner bearers can receive an additional 10 points. Provincial individual awards can receive an additional 7 points. Municipal individual awards can receive an additional 5 points. District individual awards can receive an additional 3 points. Factory individual awards can receive an additional 1 point."
"Collective awards at all levels, such as advanced workshops and glorious teams, can add an extra point. 'Active participants in studying quotations' can add an extra two points."
“Awards of the same level can be accumulated up to three times.”
Su Xiumei said excitedly, "We are both factory-level advanced individuals and active participants in studying the Quotations from Confucius. You are also the district's March 8th Red Flag Bearer. Moreover, our workshop also wins the Advanced Workshop Award every year. We should be able to add a lot of points, right?"
Lu Fangfang nodded excitedly. She quickly calculated in her mind that adding up the individual and collective awards, she should be able to get 11 points!
There was a sudden bustle in front of the bulletin board, with workers asking each other how many points they could get.
"It's quite fair for the factory to do this. I haven't been to school for years, so I probably won't be able to pass the exam as well as those high school students who just joined the factory. But I have a long service life, and if those who received the reward get a little extra points, the gap will be evened out."
Someone shouted, "Stop making noise! Keep quiet! We haven't even started yet! The second phase will admit 200 people, but the Workers' University will only admit 60!"
Hearing this, the chaotic scene slowly quieted down.
Chen Zhisheng continued, "The third stage is the written exams for mathematics and physics. Sixty candidates will be selected based on merit during this stage."
"And then? Nothing?"
"That's all. The final exams are math and physics," Chen Zhisheng suddenly shouted. "Everyone, pay attention! It says here that registration begins today. From the time the registration process ends until the admission list is announced, anyone found guilty of bribery or cheating will not only be disqualified from the exam but also fired from the factory!"
"Wow, is it that serious? Maybe I'll even lose my job?"
"This is the best way. Everyone takes the exam based on their own abilities. It's fair!"
"Okay, if you want to go to university, hurry up and sign up. After you pass the political review, you'll take the politics and Chinese exams this weekend!"
Each workshop sent someone to the Personnel Department to collect the registration form, and personal information and awards received had to be filled out truthfully.
Almost all the original employees of the Shuguang Factory failed the political review, but it was hard to say about the people from the light bulb factory.
When recruiting students for the Workers' University this time, Ye Manzhi also included the cathode ray tube workshop that was moving like ants.
Although we haven't officially started working yet, we are all working in the same boat and the treatment must be the same.
Therefore, the Party Committee and the Personnel Department must do a good job of political review this time.
Ye Manzhi went to the workshop to find Director Pan, called him outside, and whispered, "Director Pan, you are responsible for preparing the math and physics exams this time. Please make the questions as difficult as possible!"
Director Pan said, "If the difficulty is too high, none of these people may pass the exam."
"At least it should be harder than the math and physics in the college entrance exam!" Ye Manzhi whispered. "We're recruiting people with science and engineering backgrounds, people who want to be engineers! If they can't even master basic math and physics, then studying university knowledge will be a real hassle!"
Director Pan, like Wu Zhengrong, is a talented player and has no idea of the hardships of ordinary people!
Ye Manzhi proposed to set such selection criteria, which was actually based on the valuable experience summarized from his own experience!
The factory must select real science and engineering talents, so the exam questions must be difficult to create a big gap in everyone's scores.
Workers' universities train politically strong workers. Political review, political and language examinations are crucial, and the first two stages are necessary.
However, some companies will merge the second and third stages, just like the college entrance examination, and take liberal arts and science subjects together.
This will allow many people who are strong in liberal arts but weak in science to enter the final round, which will not achieve the factory's goal of training and selecting senior engineers.
…
The conditions for enrolling in university this time are both relaxed and difficult.
Some workers knew that they would not pass the exam with their math and physics skills, so they simply did not sign up.
But the final number of applicants was as high as more than 400 people. After all, opportunities are rare, and what if a blind cat catches a dead mouse?
The examination was held at the factory's children's school, and the factory leadership team, cadres from various departments, and school teachers were invigilators.
While the workers were busy preparing for the exam, Ye Manzhi was hosting a delegation of teachers from the provincial university at the factory.
In order to find teachers for the Workers' University, she contacted the provincial university which was the first to implement open education.
I hope the provincial university can send elite forces to support the workers’ universities in grassroots factories.
In order to prevent some teachers from having resistance, she first invited a delegation of provincial teachers to visit the factory.
Apart from last year's class of workers, peasants and soldiers, there are no other students on university campuses now, and many teachers do not have teaching assignments.
Therefore, a total of 13 teachers from science and engineering majors came this time!
Ye Manzhi introduced: "We are only recruiting two classes this year, one for electronics and one for mechanics. The students will be taught by a combination of engineers, experienced workers, and teachers. The Workers' University is designed to integrate with the actual production of the factory. In addition to the necessary daily study of political theory and basic subjects such as mathematics and physics, we also hope that students can help solve practical problems encountered on the production front line."
When students can't solve a problem, it's the teacher's turn to solve it.
Therefore, I hope that teachers will be mentally prepared that if they come to teach at the Workers’ University, they will have to help the workshops solve some difficulties.
Teacher Sun from the Physics Department asked, "Director Ye, how is the science foundation of our students this year?"
Ye Manzhi introduced the selection method to them and said with a smile: "It must be the best science talents selected from the best."
Teacher Sun nodded slightly and had no other questions.
The group of workers, peasants and soldiers who were recruited by the provincial university last year had such a poor foundation in science that the physics teaching and research department had to send people to tutor them in high school physics.
If the students at Shuguang Factory had a good foundation in science, she would be more motivated when teaching.
Ye Manzhi took everyone to visit the busy workshop, the classroom where classes would be held in the future, and the staff canteen.
"Our Workers' University is quite far from the city center and is a full-time institution, so teachers can have their three meals a day in our staff cafeteria. The factory has also prepared several collective dormitories in the staff compound. If it's too late to get back to the city, teachers can rest in the dormitories."
The teachers were very reserved at the time and didn't say anything.
However, when registering for the provincial college, 11 out of 13 people signed up. The other two were studying optics, and their skills seemed to be of no use in the Shuguang Factory, so they did not sign up.
Ye Manzhi was a little surprised when she received the reply from the provincial university.
She thought it would be good if seven or eight teachers were willing to come, but she didn't expect 11 to come.
However, from the teachers' perspective, the conditions at Shuguang Factory are quite good.
After colleges and universities opened, teachers had to go to factories, rural areas and the military to teach classes.
Compared with other units, Shuguang Factory provides food and accommodation, has good student enrollment, leadership support, and a good working environment, so of course everyone is willing to go there!
"Director Ye, how many teachers does the Workers' University need? Is 11 too many?" asked the principal.
Ye Manzhi quickly said, "Not much, not much! Warmly welcome the teachers to come to Shuguang Factory to teach!"
Shuguang Factory did not have to pay teachers salaries, only providing transportation and food subsidies, and some grain and meat coupons.
Not to mention 11 people, she can even feed 110 people.
Aren’t teachers better than college students?
Teachers can help solve some technical problems in the factory!
This is such a great deal!
As soon as she hung up the phone, she contacted the logistics department and quickly cleaned the teachers' dormitories, trying to arrange double or triple rooms with better conditions.
"Director, we still have a vacant single room. Would you like to arrange one for the teacher?"
"No, I'll just live in the dormitory."
If the conditions are too good, it will easily attract attention.
*
Compared with the progress of recruiting engineers from the factory, the enrollment work of the 721 Workers' University is progressing at a rapid pace.
In early April, the factory announced the final list of 60 admitted people.
The list will be made public for three days. If no one is reported for bribery or cheating, classes can resume.
During these three days, Lu Fangfang was restless and worried, fearing that something might go wrong.
When she officially received the admission notice from the "Binjiang Shuguang Machinery Factory 721 Workers' University" and learned that she was admitted to the mechanical major, she suddenly collapsed in a chair in exhaustion.
Because her family could no longer afford to support her in high school, she was admitted to Factory 833 as a worker after graduating from junior high school.
She is smart and has good skills. She is a level 4 worker before she is 30 years old. However, her academic qualifications are a hurdle. Due to her low academic qualifications, she has not been able to participate in the technician selection.
This time, the factory has a workers' university, so she can go to college!
Lu Fangfang couldn't help but kiss the notice twice!
Old Lu asked, "Fangfang, I heard that Director Ye ordered the establishment of this university. Should we give the leader a gift to show our appreciation? The public announcement period has passed, so is it okay to give a gift to the leader?"
Getting into university is a major event that can affect your life!
He really wanted to give Director Ye a gift.
"No need to say anything. Our Director Ye said that if any of these college students could lower the cost price of a TV, she would be happier than giving her a pork knuckle!"
"Oh, then you should study hard in class and try to help Director Ye!"
…
After the director of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee gave a speech at the Workers' University, the students officially began classes.
The factory party secretary has to serve as the president of the Workers' University, so Ye Manzhi is now President Ye.
She would occasionally go to sit in on the teacher's lectures. Initially, he only taught two basic courses, mathematics and physics, and the classes were relatively standard.
However, half a month later, after starting the production practice class, the students suddenly gave her a surprise.
Pan Kunlun came over with a thin steel shell and asked, "Director Ye, what do you think of this?"
"What is this?" Ye Manzhi took a serious look. "TV casing?"
"Yes!" Pan Kunlun knocked on the steel plate. "What do you think about using this to replace the existing TV casing? It can cut the cost in half!"
Hearing this, Ye Manzhi immediately became excited, "Can it really save money?"
All televisions on the market have wooden shells, and the televisions trial-produced by Shuguang Factory also followed the market trend and used wooden shells.
However, the wooden shell needs to be assembled manually, which is inefficient and the cost cannot be reduced.
When the factory held a meeting to discuss the issue, they had already given up on reducing the cost of the casing. As a wooden casing, its cost had already been reduced to the lowest level.
"It really saves money!" Pan Kunlun exclaimed. "We've been so stuck in our current products, trying so many ways to reduce costs, but never considering a different material. Sigh, our thinking has become so rigid!"
"Thin steel plates are a good idea! Metal products are our factory's specialty. If we use thin steel plates for the machine casing, not only can we reduce costs, but we can also significantly increase production efficiency!" Ye Manzhi asked in surprise, "Who came up with this idea?"
"A student in the mechanical class named Lv Fangfang, formerly a worker in the barrel section of the air gun workshop, worked with metal all day. While taking a practical class in the television workshop, she suggested we try using thin steel plates, which are lighter and cheaper. We worked overnight to make one, and it turned out even better than the wooden shell!"
Ye Manzhi said yes repeatedly, "Director Pan, our workshop will make two finished products with steel casings as soon as possible, and then send them together with the wooden casings to the provincial TV appraisal meeting. Only after they pass the provincial appraisal can we start mass production!"
Pan Kunlun left with the steel shell, and Ye Manzhi temporarily organized a team meeting to discuss the reward for Lu Fangfang.
"Our Workers' University has paid off! Less than a month later, students are already looking for ways to help us reduce costs!"
Miao Sufen said: "Comrades like this should indeed be rewarded, and if there are similar cases in the future, they should also be rewarded!"
"It's unrealistic to give such a generous reward," Huang He suggested. "Let's just follow factory practice and give out 25 yuan as a subsidy, plus some food and meat coupons."
"Alright, regardless of whether this case can be officially launched, Lu Fangfang's story must be publicized in the factory to encourage more colleagues to take the initiative to improve technology and quality and reduce product costs!"
*
Ye Manzhi was greatly encouraged by the replacement of the TV casing, and he truly felt that this workers' university was valuable!
She was inspired by the idea of opening a school, so after work that day, she took a stack of newspapers home to look for relevant news.
Wu Yuzhuo and Yi Yi had returned home from school a long time ago, and the two girls were sitting at the dining table listening to the radio.
"Youyan, Yiyi, what are you two listening to? Why are you so focused?"
Wu Yuzhuo hissed, pointed at the radio and whispered, "The radio station is broadcasting the China-US table tennis friendly match!"
"Really? What's the score?"
"We won three men's matches between the Shanghai team and the U.S. table tennis team."
Ye Manzhi didn't believe it, "Only won three games?"
"My dad said we're definitely playing with restraint!" Yi Yi said proudly. "We're number one in the world at table tennis! This is the first time the American team is here for an exchange program. If we lose badly, they'll be embarrassed and won't play with us anymore!"
"Haha, that makes sense."
Ye Manzhi also sat at the table and listened to the game broadcast with them, while flipping through the stack of newspapers she brought back.
"Mom, why did you bring back so many newspapers?" Wu Yuzhuo asked while lying on the dining table.
"Look for some news," Ye Manzhi handed her half. "Don't be idle. While you listen, help me find some news about 'opening schools' or 'opening scientific research'."
Wu Yuzhuo glanced at the newspaper in front of him and pointed it out to her. "That's it! 'Scientific Research Must Be Based on Class XX'. It says here that the Provincial Chemical Research Institute and the Provincial Electronics Research Institute are both open for scientific research. Okay, listen carefully to the competition!"
Ye Manzhi: “…”
What kind of luck did this kid have? He actually found it right away!
She was too lazy to look for it anymore, so she put the newspaper aside and listened to the competition attentively with the primary school students.
There is no suspense about the result of the game, the Shanghai team will definitely win.
But she felt that what Zhou said made sense. The Shanghai team must have played conservatively. Both the men's and women's competitions were leading by only a slight advantage, and the athletes obviously did not perform to their full potential.
The two children left the party feeling rather unsatisfied. Before going to sleep, Wu Yuzhuo kept muttering, "If only I could let them go home with the big duck egg!"
Two months ago, she and her classmates participated in a demonstration against the expansion of US aggression against India and the three other countries. She had no regard for the US at all and now all she wanted was to beat them to a pulp on the field!
"Alright, you're not old, but you're so arrogant!"
Wu Yuzhuo lay in bed, hugging his mother's arm and correcting her, "I may be young, but I have great ambitions! Just wait and see. When I grow up, I will definitely defeat the American Empire without a single piece of armor remaining!"
Ye Manzhi: “…”
It’s really worth living in this military academy compound.
The next day when she went to work, she gave the newspaper that Xiao Wu found to Wang Zaofu.
"Director Wang, the Provincial Electronics Research Institute is open for scientific research. I saw in the newspaper that they've made television image signal generators for several factories and mines free of charge. Please contact them and ask them to support our Shuguang Factory's television business."
Ye Manzhi has come to terms with it. Although he cannot recruit senior engineers for the time being, university teachers and researchers from research institutes are also very useful and don't cost much.
Then ask for some support first!
After giving the newspaper to Wang Zaofu and finding him something to do, Ye Manzhi wanted to leave.
However, Wang Zaofu stopped her.
"Director Ye, I want to talk to you about my recent work."
Ye Manzhi stopped and recalled what Wang Zaofu had done recently.
She has been busy with the Workers' University and the TV workshop recently and has not paid attention to Wang Zaofu for some time.
Director Wang seems to be less active recently. Sometimes he is not seen in the factory or workshop.
Wang Zaofu said seriously, "Director Ye, I think there's a big problem with our factory's fleet."
Ye Manzhi was wary, thinking he was about to cause trouble again, but he continued, "The factory has 13 heavy-duty trucks. I've observed them recently and they're extremely busy when they're busy, but when they're idle, they have no tasks to do all day. I think this is a waste of resources."
"Oh," Ye Manzhi said, showing some interest. "What does Director Wang think?"
Wang Zaofu offered his own solution, "I think we should rationally arrange these vehicles and form a transport service team. When the vehicles are idle, we can take on some transport tasks from other factories!"
Ye Manzhi thought it was a good idea. "It's a good idea, but will it be easy to get orders from external factories? And how do we calculate the diesel consumption?"
Factory transport trucks need diesel tickets to refuel, and there is a monthly quota.
Since Wang Zaofu was able to come up with this solution, he must have considered the problem.
He said confidently, "I can handle these!"
Ye Manzhi thought, Director Wang wants to seize power!
In fact, it is not impossible to hand over the fleet to him.
Wang Zaofu is unable to handle the business in the workshop, and he has little knowledge of factory management. If he is left idle, there is no guarantee that he will cause trouble again.
But Ye Manzhi didn't want to give in to his wishes easily.
She thought about it in her mind and said with a smile, "This idea is very good. I support you in principle. The factory's business is increasing, especially since televisions are fragile. How to transport them safely is a very important issue. Director Wang, I think you can take over all of our factory's transportation business."
Wang Zaofu was delighted. He didn't expect Ye Manzhi to be so generous and actually hand over the entire transportation business to him!
However, the joy lasted only three seconds, and Ye Manzhi asked again: "Director Wang, our factory has an idle railway transportation line, did you know?"
"Well, I heard it was a military railway built during the 833 Factory era?"
"Yes, when Factory 833 was here, this railway line led directly to the finished goods warehouse, allowing goods to be loaded onto train cars and shipped directly to other provinces and cities. This eliminated the need for cars to transfer to trains, making it safer for fragile goods. But after Factory 833 left, this railway line became unused. The military and local governments didn't hand over the railway line, so it was difficult for Shuguang Factory to continue using it. Director Wang, can you think of a solution for this?"
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