Gate,Opening,again,for,Cosmetics,Talents

Cai Zhaoyang

Qingyan Network Technology（Wu Han) Co.,Ltd.,China

Recently,the Ministry of Education of China announced the results of the filing and approval of undergraduate disciplines in ordinary colleges and universities in 2021.In the list of newly added undergraduate disciplines,three colleges and universities have added the cosmetics disciplines.The author finds out that in the past five years,18 ordinary colleges and universities have applied to set up cosmetics disciplines.Many people in the industry believe that with the country’s emphasis on the cultivation of cosmetics professionals,the development of our country’s cosmetics industry will also reach a new level.

According to the filing and approval results of undergraduate disciplines in ordinary colleges and universities in 2021,Xiamen Medical College,Qilu Normal University,and Zhengzhou University of Light Industry have added cosmetic disciplines.Among them,Xiamen Medical College added the discipline of“Cosmetics Science and Technology,” and the degreegranting category belongs to Science;Qilu Normal University and Zhengzhou University of Light Industry added the discipline of “Cosmetics Technology and Engineering,” which belongs to Engineering.The duration of these two programs is four years.A number of the cosmetics industry insiders recalled that before 2018,there was no undergraduate discipline directly named“cosmetics” in ordinary colleges and universities until March 21,2018,when Shanghai Institute of Technology established the “Cosmetics Technology and Engineering”discipline,achieving a historic breakthrough in the development of cosmetics disciplines.

Since then,the “gateway” for new cosmetics majors in the undergraduate disciplines of ordinary colleges and universities has been opened.Data shows that on March 25,2019,the Ministry of Education released the list of newly registered undergraduate disciplines of 2018,showing that Guangdong Pharmaceutical University,Zhaoqing University,and Xiamen Medical College have newly established disciplines in “Cosmetics Science and Technology” and “Cosmetics Technology and Engineering.” In 2020,another five colleges and universities established these two cosmetic disciplines;in 2021,7 colleges and universities established cosmetic disciplines.

To sum up,since 2018,18 colleges and universities have added 19 cosmetics majors in total,including 14 universities with “Cosmetic Technology and Engineering,” and 5 with “Cosmetic Science and Technology.” It is worth mentioning that Xiamen Medical College added “Cosmetic Technology and Engineering” and “Cosmetic Science and Technology”in 2019 and 2022 respectively,and is currently the only ordinary higher education institution that has these two cosmetic disciplines at the same time.

“More and more colleges and universities are establishing cosmetics disciplines,indicating that the Ministry of Education has begun to plan and systematically build a team of cosmetics talents.”Many industry insiders said one after another.

Table 1.Cosmetics disciplines in the list of newly filed undergraduate disciplines in ordinary colleges and universities released by ministry of education over the past five years

Liu Gangyong,leader of the cosmetics discipline of Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College believes that in recent years,the proportion of the cosmetics industry in the country’s total GDP has become larger and larger,so the construction of cosmetics professionals has also received more and more attention from the country,and every year the cosmetics disciplines applied by many colleges and universities were approved.In addition,there are many colleges and universities with cosmetics majors in France and China Taiwan,which also makes us see the gap.

He Qiuxing,head of the cosmetics discipline of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University,also expressed a similar view.He said that with the rapid development of China’s cosmetics industry,the demand for cosmetics professionals has naturally increased a lot.Higher education,especially local colleges and universities,should be committed to cultivating applied talents to serve the local economy.In recent years,colleges and universities have added cosmetics majors,which is a good thing for the cosmetics industry.However,He Qiuxing also said that colleges and universities need to do feasibility studies,such as understanding the number,scale,talent needs,and student internship conditions of local cosmetics-related companies,and should not blindly follow the trend.In addition,investment in the new disciplines should also be noted,especially professional teachers.He further stated that if colleges and universities cannot establish cosmetic disciplines,they can also offer 2 to 3 appropriate cosmetic courses in related majors such as Applied Chemistry based on the characteristics of each college and university.Possible courses may include packaging materials,design,advertising,testing,etc.of cosmetics.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics,the total retail sales of cosmetics in China in 2021 reached 402.6 billion yuan.Although China has become the world’s second largest cosmetics consumer market,it has to be admitted that the corresponding talent training mechanism is not quite complete.Some people in the industry even said that “a key factor restricting the development of the country’s cosmetics industry is the lack of professional technical talents.” The shortage of talents in the cosmetics industry has long become an industry consensus.Some people have previously estimated that “the gap of cosmeticsrelated professionals has exceeded 100,000.” It is worth mentioning that many industry veterans believe that the current lack of professionals in the industry has something to do with the lack of cosmetics disciplines in our country over the past 20 years.

Why has there been a 20 years’ break in cosmetics talent training?

Zhang Taijun,R＆D director of Guangzhou Quanzhi Meifu Biotechnology Research Institute,recalled that the earliest professional discipline related to cosmetics in our country was the “daily chemical industry” major in the late 1970s;it was later changed into the major of “light industry organic synthesis;” after 1985,it was changed again into the“fine chemical industry” major.“Almost around 1998,these majors were uniformly changed into ‘chemical engineering and technology’ and ‘applied chemistry.’”He introduced that before 1998,the colleges and universities had a relatively larger autonomy,and then the state began to regulate the running of colleges and universities,the courses and hours of each major clearly stipulated,and cosmetics courses are gradually marginalized.“Many cosmetics-related experiments were cancelled,many courses became optional courses,and the teachers who taught the courses before have also began to teach other courses.”

According to public information,before Shanghai Institute of Technology added the first major of “Cosmetics Technology and Engineering,”only a few universities in China,such as Jiangnan University,Beijing Technology and Business University,Guangdong Pharmaceutical University,had a specification of cosmetics under majors in Applied Chemistry or Light Chemical Engineering and offered a number of basic courses and professional courses in cosmetics.However,there has never been a discipline that contains the word “cosmetics” in its name or a discipline that specializes in cosmetics.

He Qiuxing said that the reason for this is that around 1998,various undergraduate colleges and universities set the guiding ideology of “wide caliber,solid foundation and strong practice.” “Because of the requirement that undergraduate majors should be broader,and the fact that the previous majors in fine chemical engineer are all narrow and more inclined to application,the Ministry of Education believed that it may not be conducive to the comprehensive development of students in the future or there may be a lack in the systematic acquisition of professional knowledge,and therefore such disciplines were adjusted.After that,colleges and universities can only offer some cosmetic-related courses under related majors such as Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Technology.”

“In addition,because the cosmetics major is an applied discipline,it is difficult for colleges and universities to apply for research funds.Therefore,some powerful 985 colleges seldom applied to establish this major,and weaker colleges and universities did not have the chance.Therefore,in the past 20 years,no undergraduate colleges and universities have had cosmetics majors.” Liu Gangyong further added.

The above-mentioned 18 colleges and universities that have set up cosmetics disciplines belong to the category of ordinary higher education.In the category of vocational education,there are also more than 30 vocational education colleges in China that have set up cosmetics disciplines.Taking Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College as an example,there are currently 3 cosmetics disciplines,Cosmetics Technology,Cosmetics Marketing,and Cosmetics Quality and Safety.Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College is also the first vocational education college in the country to offer a major in cosmetics under the major of Applied Chemical Technology.In 2011,the major was officially renamed as the major of Cosmetics Technology and Management.Cosmetics talents coming out of vocational colleges are mostly looking for jobs as cosmetics inspectors,assistant R＆D engineers,and front-line cosmetics producers.At present,there is a large shortage of middle and high-level R＆D personnel and management personnel in the industry,such as quality and safety directors,senior formulators,R＆D chief engineers.

He Qiuxing introduced that the main difficulty in offering cosmetics majors in colleges and universities is to add the cosmetics disciplines to the “National Undergraduate Discipline Directory of Ordinary Colleges and Universities.” As long as this step is completed,it will be relatively easy for other colleges to add this major subsequently.The Discipline Directory is somewhat similar to the raw material catalogue in the cosmetics industry.

To sum up,it is not difficult to see that in the nearly 20 years between 1998 and 2018,there has been no ordinary colleges and universities specializing in cosmetics in China,and this has led to the “fault” of cosmetics talents.For a long time,there has been a lack in the regular stream of industry talents,and some industry insiders even sighed,“Cosmetic talents were not facing a ‘fault of layers,’because there had never been any ‘layers.’”

Relevant literature shows that the establishment of cosmetics courses in colleges and universities and the higher education of cosmetics,roughly originated in Europe in the Middle Ages.In modern times,higher education in cosmetics has generally emerged in industrialized regions such as Europe,America,and Japan.For example,Columbia University in the United States and Waseda University in Japan have long established undergraduate disciplines related to cosmetics,cultivating and transporting talents in cosmetics technology for the society.

Due to the serious shortage of technical personnel training and supply in colleges and universities,the vast majority of professional and technical personnel in the current cosmetics industry come from majors like biotechnology and chemical industry.However,these majors are still different from cosmetics majors in terms of professional positioning,training objectives,curriculum settings,and fields of practice.Talent training in these professional backgrounds faces problems such as being too broad and lacking in specialization.When they enter the cosmetics industry,they often need to actively acquire various aspects knowledge to compensate for the gap.

Zhang Taijun believes that the training and delivery of talents in the cosmetics industry should be continuously improved mainly by higher education.“When professionals from other disciplines are engaged in technical research and development,they may have the disadvantage of preoccupied one-sided understanding,and their career spirits and professional feelings may also deviate from the cosmetics industry.”In his view,although talents from other majors related to cosmetics can also make good cosmetics,but professionalism is not only about technology,but also concerned with professional feelings and spirits.”

“In an industry,at least 40% to 50% of the people should have professional backgrounds,but the current situation of our cosmetics industry is that almost all practitioners come from other related industries.If the higher education training had not been interrupted,the industry could have cultivated more talents.” Zhang Taijun’s words revealed a trace of regret.

Some people in the industry said that relatively speaking,the food,medicine and other industries already have a complete set of talent training mechanisms.Among the disciplinary settings of many colleges and universities,food and medicine-related majors are quite common and complete.Therefore,industries like food and medicine can continue to develop healthily.

It can be predicted that with the gradual increase in the number of cosmetic majors in colleges and universities,the shortage of talents in the cosmetics industry will also be greatly improved.“In addition,the current new regulations attach great importance to research and development,and the industry is developing in a high-quality direction.The two keep pace with each other,and in ten years,domestic cosmetics will also usher in the rise.” A senior industry practitioner said.CDC