Deciphering the Scarcity of Innovative Talent in China: Insights from the Structure-Agency-Culture Framework
Keywords:
scarcity of innovative talent, China, Structure-Agency-Culture (SAC) framework, developmental challengesAbstract
China has emerged as an economic superpower that rivals the United States in many ways, but challenges persist, especially a paucity of innovative talent. The question reportedly posed by the Chinese aerospace engineer and cyberneticist Qian Xuesen about why Chinese schools fail to produce outstanding science and technology talent became more urgent after the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The percentage of graduates with higher education degrees continues to rise, yet their contributions to national development, such as industrial innovation and upgrading, have not increased proportionally. This hinders progress across diverse social strata and leads to social issues, such as a heightened structural unemployment rate. This article uses the structure-agency-culture (SAC) framework, a literature review, qualitative research, and comparative analysis to analyze the impact of factors contributing to this issue. The goal is to create guidelines for other nations, including Thailand, to address comparable social challenges.
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