"Trust falls," "high-altitude bridge crossing," "vertical ladder"... These outdoor team-building exercises, once only available to white-collar professionals, have now become a compulsory course for students at Hefei Vocational College of Finance and Economics.
Starting with the class of 2013, every enrolled student, regardless of major, must take outdoor training as a formal course and study it seriously, with their performance recorded on their "graduation transcript."
The course is offered in the first and fourth semesters, with two classes per week. The first-semester course focuses on helping new students adapt through orientation training, while the fourth-semester course is integrated with career guidance to enhance students' social integration skills and teamwork.
According to reports, the outdoor training program includes high-altitude, mid-altitude, low-altitude, ground-based, mental, theoretical, and field-based activities. Specific teaching content covers nearly 20 projects such as ice-breaking sessions, trust falls, and high-altitude bridge crossing, with each project lasting about 2–4 class hours, aiming to develop students' self-challenge abilities and teamwork qualities.
As a young private vocational college, the institution introduced the outdoor training teaching model in 2006 and established a training center in 2007, inviting nationally renowned training organizations to provide guidance. Since then, the college has funded the construction of a professional training base and trained a group of qualified instructors.
According to Yan Su, the college’s founder, outdoor training is a new teaching model introduced to support the school’s goal of cultivating "pyramid-shaped talent." The so-called "pyramid-shaped talent" is defined by: "one spirit"—excellent professional ethics; "two specialties"—professional and employment-related expertise; "three methods"—approaches to being a good person, entrepreneurship, and learning; and "four qualities"—balanced personal development, fluent spoken English, proficiency in computer applications, and familiarity with Chinese and foreign cultures.
"Students are also highly interested in this course format, with an attendance rate of 98%." In his view, outdoor training helps address mental health issues among vocational students, while also tempering their willpower and fostering a strong work ethic. "Problems that traditional classroom teaching cannot solve can be addressed through outdoor practice."
Reportedly, in addition to training programs, rock climbing activities are also widely available to all students at Hefei Vocational College of Finance and Economics—anyone with the ability and courage can try climbing a 15-meter wall.
To expand outdoor training and promote climbing culture, the college invested 4.7 million yuan to build eight difficulty routes, eight speed routes, and eight bouldering routes, meeting international climbing facility standards. It is reported that the General Administration of Sport of China recently approved the establishment of China’s Climbing Museum at the college. The school also recently hosted the 9th National College Students’ Rock Climbing Championship.
During the interview, a member of the college’s climbing team said, "For vocational students, how to overcome adversity and challenge oneself—turning the impossible into the possible—is a real issue everyone must face, which aligns perfectly with the spirit of climbing."
"Through the 'escape wall' training, we came to this conclusion: many things simply cannot be accomplished without the help of others." In the opinion of Xu Aolei, a student at the college, to achieve success in their careers, vocational students must not only improve their job skills but, more importantly, learn to collaborate with others.