How China’s New Data Science Virtual Lab Is Shaping Future Talent

The Ministry of Education’s "Data Science Curriculum Group" virtual teaching and research office was inaugurated in Yinchuan, focusing on the construction of the curriculum group, virtual research office, talent training plans, core courses, high‑quality textbooks, and the promotion of Huawei Cloud for data‑science talent cultivation and domestic database system teaching.

The virtual research office, approved as a national-level initiative, is led by Northeast Normal University and includes more than 70 universities such as Central University for Nationalities, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing Normal University, Dalian University of Technology, Tongji University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Hefei University of Technology, Shenzhen University, Anhui Medical University, as well as partners like Higher Education Press, Huawei Technologies, and Tsinghua University Press.

At the launch meeting, Dean Yin Minghao of Northeast Normal University’s School of Information Science and Technology hosted the event, with nearly one hundred participants attending both online and offline. Academician Chen Guoliang, a member of the expert advisory group, emphasized that data science is the foundational technology of the new information era and called for the cultivation of high‑level big‑data and domestic‑database talent to meet national and societal needs.

Vice‑President Xu Haiyang of Northeast Normal University highlighted the importance of data science as a basic competency in the intelligent era and advocated for the integration of domestic database technologies into universities to advance China’s transition from "Made in China" to "Created in China".

Huawei Cloud’s product division head Wang Xihai stressed that talent competition drives industry development and that close industry‑academia‑research collaboration is essential for building a new curriculum system. Huawei Cloud has already partnered with the Ministry’s virtual research office to develop introductory "Big Data Overview" content, offering cloud labs, MOOCs, textbooks, exercises, and a joint certification program.

Key construction ideas presented by Professor Li Yanling of Northeast Normal University include: (1) building a "real" rather than merely virtual research space that fosters academic growth and industry‑university collaboration; (2) promoting intrinsic development of the curriculum group by establishing knowledge graphs, teaching outlines, electronic courseware, case studies, and practical projects for big‑data and domestic database technologies; (3) co‑creating resources through renowned teachers, courses, textbooks, and domestic database software; and (4) deepening industry‑academia integration with Huawei Cloud to empower developers and support digital talent training.