The first batch of students has completed Mainland China’s first undergraduate degree program on charity and philanthropy management in the Nanjing Tech University (南京工业大学). The graduation ceremony was held on the 15th of June. The program was set up in 2014 after the university entered into a partnership with the Overseas Chinese Charity Foundation of China (中国乔华公益基金会). The motivation given was that China’s charity sector was developing rapidly, with 541,000 social organizations nationwide in 2013, and yet there wasn’t a single degree program with the aim of training human resources for the sector.
According to figures provided by the university, out of the 93 graduating students over half have already been hired by charitable organizations, and almost 30 have been hired by the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, the China Women’s Development Foundation, the See Foundation and other such well-known organizations.
Apart from the Nanjing Tech University, Shenzhen University and the Zhuhai branch of Beijing Normal University have also instituted degree programs focusing on charity and philanthropy (in the case of Shenzhen University, only as part of a double-major degree).
