At a Glance (China Coffee Network): On May 20, Yunnan Agricultural University and Starbucks China signed a strategic university-enterprise cooperation agreement, building a new industry-education integration model—”co-cultivating talent, co-creating technology, sharing results, co-shaping the brand”—to power talent development and industrial upgrading across China’s coffee sector.
On May 20, Yunnan Agricultural University (YAU) and Starbucks China officially signed a university-enterprise cooperation agreement, establishing a long-term, stable strategic partnership. The two sides will fully leverage YAU’s deep accumulation in coffee discipline development, scientific research innovation, and industry service, together with Starbucks’ leading strengths in coffee retail, talent cultivation, and industry practice, to inject new momentum into talent development and industrial upgrading for China’s coffee industry through a new industry-education integration model of “co-cultivating talent, co-creating technology, sharing results, and co-shaping the brand.”
Leaders including Wang Yongquan, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Education; He Gewei, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology; and Tan Hongming, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, attended the event. Wang Weibin, Party Secretary of Yunnan Agricultural University; Li Yonghe, deputy Party secretary and president; Li Hong, vice president; and relevant Starbucks China leaders participated in the signing ceremony. Li Yonghe signed the strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of YAU and Starbucks China.
In his address, Wang Weibin, Party Secretary of YAU, said that as the main force in talent cultivation and technological innovation for Yunnan’s coffee industry, YAU has always borne the era’s mission of building its coffee discipline into a “representative of China.” Under the strong guidance and support of the relevant provincial departments, YAU’s coffee-discipline education system has achieved leapfrog development from nothing to something and from something to excellence; its coffee sci-tech innovation platform system keeps improving; key core technologies keep breaking through; and research achievements accelerate their translation and implementation at the industry front line, benefiting vast numbers of coffee farmers and enterprises—vividly embodying the responsibility of “writing the thesis on the land of Yunnan.” Starbucks China possesses internationally advanced technology reserves, excellent brand influence, and a global perspective, while YAU cultivates local resources, focuses on core technologies, and gathers professional talent; the two sides’ strong alliance will surely make a comprehensive push in talent co-cultivation, joint technology R&D, shared quality control, co-built brands, and sustainable development, jointly creating a new model of university-enterprise cooperation.
Starbucks China has always been committed to building iconic local-practice exemplars for China’s coffee industry. This partnership with YAU is not only a university-enterprise collaboration, but also a brand-new starting point for both sides to move toward future talent cultivation, partner growth, and coffee-industry application innovation. Through the joint, deep cultivation of both university and enterprise, Starbucks China hopes to turn consensus into action—letting young students see the future, letting in-service partners grow, and injecting into Starbucks China’s long-term growth more strength from talent, education, and Yunnan’s coffee origins.
Pooling sci-tech innovation to deeply develop the industry-academia-research integration system
As a backbone force long serving Yunnan’s coffee-producing regions, YAU relies on its first-level discipline doctoral and master’s programs in Food Science and Engineering to build a three-dimensional, seamlessly connected complete talent-cultivation system spanning bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, adult education, and vocational-skill enhancement. It has innovatively formed a “four integrations, five co-buildings, six combinations” education mechanism, built 4 national first-class undergraduate courses, launched 23 provincial-education-department teaching-reform projects and 8 research projects, won 2 provincial teaching-achievement awards, and achieved a 100% employment rate for master’s and doctoral graduates, with remarkable results in coffee talent cultivation. The university has achieved multiple application-prospective research results in areas such as breeding improved coffee varieties, micro-water pulping and depulping, precise directional fermentation, stable flavor-quality enhancement, and high-value utilization of by-products. It has bred and successfully promoted 3 new coffee varieties, and 2 technologies including standardized peel-tea processing were selected into Yunnan Province’s 2025 major agricultural extension technologies. In 2025, 22 sci-tech service teams were dispatched to station directly at enterprises to provide technical services; related technology demonstration and extension services covered nearly 200 coffee enterprises province-wide; and sci-tech support helped cooperative enterprises achieve over 500 million yuan in output value. Relying on YAU’s strong research strength and the resource endowment of core origins, the two sides will explore more future cooperation directions.
Co-cultivating talent to build a growth loop that connects learning with application
YAU and Starbucks China will use this cooperation as an opportunity to break through traditional single-point university-enterprise connections, instead reserving professional talent and stimulating industrial vitality in a linearly extending, sustainably operating manner, innovatively creating a “Starbucks Project,” offering coffee specialty elective courses with credit recognition, helping students build, beyond professional-skill improvement, judgment, execution, and team-collaboration abilities oriented to real scenarios, so they stand out in future career development with outstanding comprehensive professional qualities. They will jointly hold campus exclusive info-sessions, recruitment fairs, and industry-exchange activities, bringing industry’s talent needs and development opportunities earlier to the campus side. Starbucks China will also open internship and training positions to students and provide professional practice-guidance opportunities, building a clear career-development path from campus to workplace for coffee-related majors. This series of measures not only builds a “growth express” for young talent, but also achieves an effective connection between internship practice and employment, and between academic education and professional competence, further promoting talent flow between Yunnan’s producing regions and the consumption end, and driving the co-build and co-prosperity of the local coffee market’s entire chain.
Looking ahead, YAU and Starbucks China will continue to focus on talent cultivation and industry-academia-research collaborative innovation, actively expand the cooperation ecosystem, and starting from a single coffee bean, connect origin advantages, research breakthroughs, and key industry-chain links, pushing innovation results faster toward application and practice, providing solid support for the high-quality development of China’s coffee industry ecosystem.
(China Daily Yunnan News Station, reporter Li Yingqing)
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