Research on the Construction of Young Security Cadres in Colleges and Universities in the New Era ()
1. Introduction
General Secretary Jinping Xi pointed out in the Party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress that “The country is strong when the youth is strong. Young people in contemporary China are born at the right time, and the stage for displaying their talents is extremely broad, and the prospects for realizing their dreams are extremely bright. The whole party should take youth work as a strategic task, arm the youth with the Party’s scientific theory, inspire the youth with the Party’s initial mission, be the bosom friend of young friends, the enthusiastic person of youth work and the guide of young people. The majority of young people should unswervingly listen to the Party’s words and follow them, embrace their dreams and be down-to-earth, dare to think and do good deeds, and be determined to be good young people in the new era with ideals, courage to take responsibility, hardship and willingness to struggle, so that youth can bloom in the fiery practice of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way” (People’s Publishing House, 2022) . Young cadres in the new era of Socialism with Chinese characteristics are shouldering the new mission entrusted by the new era, which puts forward higher standards and requirements for young cadres. A comprehensive analysis and research on the construction of young security cadres in colleges and universities in the new era is not only a thorough study and implementation of the spirit of the 20th Party Congress and General Secretary Jinping Xi’s important speech, but also a need for the development of security in colleges and universities, which has great theoretical and practical significance.
2. The Analysis of the Necessity of Strengthening the Construction of Young Security Cadres in Colleges and Universities
The key to starting a business is people. Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Party emphasized, “Building a contingent of high-quality cadres who can shoulder the heavy responsibility of national rejuvenation. To build a socialist modern country in an all-round way, we must have a contingent of cadres who are politically competent, adapt to the requirements of the new era and have the ability to lead the modernization drive...... We must do a good job in the fundamental plan of successors, improve the normalized working mechanism for training and selecting outstanding young cadres, and take training and growth in grassroots and hard areas as an important way to train young cadres” (People’s Publishing House, 2022) . Strengthening the construction of young security cadres in colleges and universities is the fundamental plan to grasp the successors of the security cause in colleges and universities and an important measure to build a high-quality cadre team in colleges and universities.
While colleges and universities carry out the fundamental task of educating people by virtue and promoting a new round of “double-first-class” construction with high quality, the key to promoting the long-term development of college security and building a higher level of safe campus lies in strengthening the construction of college security cadres, especially enriching, cultivating and using young security cadres as the backbone. Faced with heavy security tasks such as public security, firefighting, transportation, safety education and household registration in colleges and universities, the normal 24-hour duty on campus, the emergency handling of various emergencies, and the round of prevention and control of the epidemic in the century, it is very necessary for a group of young security cadres to take the lead and face difficulties, guard the campus and escort. Obviously, strengthening the construction of young security cadres in colleges and universities is not only the need to improve their own working ability and level, but also the premise to do a good job in the safety and stability of colleges and universities, and it is also the inevitable requirement to escort the new round of “double-first-class” construction and career reform and development in colleges and universities.
3. The Current Problems and Deficiencies in the Construction of Young Security Cadres in Colleges and Universities
In recent years, with the attention of university leaders, the construction of “safe campus” and the need to update and improve the security cadres in colleges and universities, young security cadres have been enriched to some extent. However, we should also be soberly aware that there are still some problems in the selection, employment and retention of young security cadres in colleges and universities, such as narrow selection scope, insufficient training and use, and lack of positive incentives.
3.1. Selection: Narrow Selection Range
Selecting people is the basis of employing people. If you choose the right person, it will be easy to cultivate and the talent construction will be done. For a long time, the security and stability of colleges and universities need to be on duty 24 hours a day and the security cadres need to participate in emergency response. In addition, the recent graduates have limited knowledge and understanding of the security departments of colleges and universities, and they rarely regard it as the first job hunting intention, which leads to the limited choice of the security departments of colleges and universities in selecting outstanding young security cadres at the entrance. Limited by factors such as Beijing’s household registration index and decreasing career establishment year by year, it is even more difficult for universities in Beijing to choose outstanding young security cadres, and the optional range is even smaller. Most outstanding fresh graduates are discouraged when they learn that they can’t solve the Beijing household registration and career establishment; some fresh graduates choose “breach of contract” when they have been hired by the security department of colleges and universities and meet other suitable units or positions. At present, a small number of young security cadres recruited by colleges and universities in Beijing choose to apply or transfer to the security department after interviewing other units. The heads of security departments in some colleges and universities also said that they had encountered the dilemma of “difficulty in recruiting talents” during the exchange and discussion.
3.2. Cultivate: Insufficient Training and Cultivation
Employing people is the key to retaining people. Those who get talents win the world, it is not enough to select people but not cultivate and use them, and it is not enough to employ people but not be kind and keep them. The key to employing people lies in the word “accuracy”, and the essence of accuracy lies in making the best use of people. The safety and stability work in colleges and universities is multifarious, and the daily work is heavy. The systematic training of young security cadres is often overlooked, and it is easy to appear different in cultivation. For example, public security, firefighting, transportation, safety education and other businesses in the security and stability work of colleges and universities are very professional, which requires not only familiarity with relevant national laws and regulations and relevant school rules and regulations, but also mastery of practical handling methods and handling skills. However, at present, the training of young security cadres in colleges and universities is mostly to listen to some lectures and participate in some short-term training, and the training has not yet formed a system, and the effect is difficult to guarantee. A small number of young security cadres have not participated in relevant training since they joined the job for several years. The security departments of individual colleges and universities also have some problems in grasping and leading teams, such as not using cadres well and not making the best use of their talents. Such a “situation” is bound to make the officers feel chilling and the strugglers sad.
3.3. Retention: The Absence of Positive Incentives
Retaining people is the guarantee of career. The key to retaining people is to retain the “heart”. When young security cadres are “sad” and “chilling” at work, it is difficult to ensure the stability of the team and the school security cause cannot be guaranteed. This is the fact of a chain reaction. Therefore, the security departments of colleges and universities should be good at retaining young security cadres with many years of work experience while vigorously introducing talents (candidates). The absence of positive incentives is mainly reflected in the actual situation of some college security cadres, such as “low duty expenses”, “it is difficult to evaluate and promote professional titles”, “there is no hope for promotion of job ranks” and “no name on the honor selection list”. The vast majority of young security cadres regard their work as their career, and they are willing to contribute and pay. They don’t just care about positive incentives, and letting them be “chilling” and “sad” is the last straw to crush them. Relevant research also believes that “due to the particularity of the nature of the work of security cadres, coupled with the certain risks of the work, if there is no relevant treatment subsidy, it will seriously affect the work enthusiasm of security personnel and the unity of security organizations. The department is not taken seriously, and the treatment in all aspects is relatively poor, which cannot guarantee the long-term work of security personnel. The security cadres who have been painstakingly recruited by the school and trained for several years may change jobs or resign, losing both financial resources and talents. All these have seriously affected the normal development of security work” (Kun & Zhu, 2017) .
4. The New Era to Strengthen the Construction of Young Security Cadres in Colleges and Universities
In the new era, there are new missions and new requirements. It is not only the requirement of the new era, but also the need for the new round of “double first-class” construction of colleges and universities to further strengthen the construction of young security cadres in colleges and universities by establishing a comprehensive guarantee mechanism, constructing a systematic training system and formulating a professional development direction.
4.1. The Establishment of a Comprehensive Security Mechanism
A comprehensive talent guarantee mechanism and incentive system is the premise and foundation for the construction of young security cadres in colleges and universities. First, we should establish a good mechanism for recruiting new students. In view of the fact that Beijing’s household registration index and career establishment are decreasing year by year, and some security cadres are facing objective reasons such as retirement and leaving their posts, colleges and universities, especially those in Beijing, should not only strictly control the entrance, but also consider the nature and actual situation of security work in colleges and universities as a whole, innovate the talent introduction mechanism, and be good at absorbing a group of outstanding young security cadres from the source. The personnel department and the security department in colleges and universities should establish a consultation mechanism and maintain close communication. In view of the particularity of the security work in colleges and universities, when the existing career security cadres retire and leave their posts, it is suggested that the personnel department consider increasing the recruitment indicators of the security department, such as unified recruitment and school recruitment, so as to broaden the selection range of “entrance clearance” and select outstanding young security cadres in a wider range and with multiple measures. The second is to improve the incentive system. In view of the heavy security tasks in colleges and universities, the normal overtime work on duty, the difficulty in promoting professional titles and the hopeless promotion, it is necessary and proper to improve the corresponding incentive system such as salary, duty, overtime and special allowance, and promotion of professional titles. Only by establishing a comprehensive talent guarantee mechanism and incentive system can young security cadres be selected well, used well and retained.
4.2. Building a Systematic Training System
Constructing a systematic training system is an important way to enhance and strengthen the political position, comprehensive quality and professional ability of college security cadres, especially young security cadres. First, from the inside of colleges and universities, we should adhere to the combination of pre-job training and on-the-job training, and effectively improve the professional quality and working ability of young security cadres through regular special training, professional knowledge exchange, business work discussion and work theory research. Second, from the outside of colleges and universities, the Ministry of Education and local education administrative departments (party committees) should insist on holding professional off-the-job training, short-term training, research and exchange on a regular basis. Colleges and universities should adhere to the principle of orderly and full coverage to send young security cadres to participate in professional off-the-job training, short-term training, research and exchange organized by higher authorities, so as to broaden their horizons and improve their political position. The training contents should include the relevant national laws and regulations and school rules and regulations, traditional safety content such as public security, fire safety, traffic safety, network safety, food safety and comprehensive management, and non-traditional safety content such as politics, ideology, information confidentiality and biological infection. In addition, when constructing a systematic training system, we should also pay attention to formulating training plans and training systems and implementing the training of teachers. After the construction of the training system, the emphasis is on the implementation and training effect. When other training cannot be controlled, colleges and universities should attach great importance to internal training, formulate training time, training content and training methods in detail, and truly ensure the effectiveness of relevant training, so as to lay a solid foundation for further doing all the work and cultivating young security cadres.
4.3. Developing the Direction of Professional Development
Today, the world is experiencing great change, and all kinds of potential safety hazards and risk challenges are unprecedented. The security and stability situation faced by colleges and universities is becoming more and more complicated. Preventing and resolving major security risks have become an inherent requirement for the security development of colleges and universities, which puts forward an urgent need to safeguard the quality and ability of cadres and their development direction. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward that “we should build a contingent of high-quality professional cadres” (People’s Publishing House, 2017) , and added “specialization” after “high quality” for the first time. It can be seen that establishing a professional development direction for young security cadres in colleges and universities is not only the requirement of implementing the construction of cadres in the new era, but also the need for the safe development of colleges and universities, and it is also a response to their personal development needs. Specific suggestions are made from the following two aspects: first, the development direction of professional and technical positions. It is suggested that young security cadres who have the conditions to participate in the evaluation and engagement of professional and technical positions such as junior, intermediate, deputy senior and full senior should carry out extensive theoretical research in combination with their actual work. In form, they can form a scientific research team to preside over or participate in subject research, or they can carry out research and publish academic papers independently according to their personal conditions, so as to be fully prepared for the evaluation and engagement of professional and technical positions at all times. The second is the development direction of engineers. It is suggested that other young security cadres, especially those in charge of the firefighting business, develop in the direction of “registered fire engineers”, and strive to obtain the qualification certificates of first-class and second-class registered fire engineers through systematic study of Fire Safety Technical Practice, Comprehensive Ability of Fire Safety Technology and Case Analysis of Fire Safety, which will not only help personal career development, but also help to improve the professional level of work.
The team of young security cadres in colleges and universities is the most basic, important and lasting force in the security and stability of colleges and universities, and plays a decisive role in maintaining campus security and stability. The construction of young security cadres is a systematic project, which needs a long time and attaches great importance to it. Colleges and universities should face up to the problems and shortcomings in the introduction, training, use and retention of young security cadres, and establish a comprehensive security mechanism, a systematic training system and a professional development direction in light of the new requirements of the new era, so as to urge young security cadres to give full play to their leading role in security and stability, earnestly safeguard the security and stability of colleges and universities, and strive to escort the new round of “double-first-class” construction and career reform and development in colleges and universities.
Funding
This paper is the phased research result of the research project “Research on the Training and Development Path of Young Security Cadres in Colleges and Universities” in 2022 by the Security Research Branch of Beijing Higher Education Society.