Four award-winning students pose for a group photo at the awards ceremony of the 2023 New Star Challenge for College Students in the Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries, Fujian province, on May 31. [Photo/WeChat account: Xiamen Torch Academy]

An awards ceremony of the 2023 New Star Challenge for College Students in the Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries was held in Xiamen, Fujian province, on May 31.

The Xiamen Torch High-tech Zone has successfully organized the competition three times, serving as a brand event that facilitates collaboration between leading enterprises and college graduates. This initiative acts as a bridge, attracting talents and igniting a new phase of development for the zone.

This year's contest, which consisted of 10 professional parallel events, drew 3,289 participants from 283 universities nationwide. A total of 221 contestants in 60 teams from Xiamen University, Lanzhou University, Southwest Jiaotong University and other domestic universities were recognized and awarded in various categories.

Yang Yumin, head of the human resources department at Longjing Environment Technology Co Ltd, said that this is the second time his company has participated as a judge in the contest and that the firm has incorporated its technological progress into the design of competition events this year.

Participation in the contest will help enterprises better tackle difficulties in business growth, expand channels to attract talents with innovative and problem-solving competence, and achieve win-win cooperation with attending universities, Yang added.

Award-winning students go on a study tour of the Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries. [Photo/WeChat account: Xiamen Torch Academy]

During the organization of the contest, the Xiamen Torch Academy also invited nearly 20 teachers from more than 10 universities nationwide along with over 100 award-winning students to visit the Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries.

They toured exhibition halls, enterprises, the Xiamen Software Park and the Tongxiang High-tech City, learned about industrial parks and local enterprises, experienced Xiamen's high-quality growth and its vitality in innovation and entrepreneurship, and appreciated the unique charm of the city.

Chen Ziyang, a first-year PhD student from the College of Systems Engineering at the National University of Defense Technology, and his teammates took home a first-prize award for their self-developed NLP-based intelligent government services system.

Chen said that the contest has attracted contestants with preferential measures, set multiple themes for them to choose from and enhanced their affection toward Xiamen.