2017-03-28

On the morning of March 28^th, 2017, Mr. LIU Zhanshan, Managing Vice President and Secretary General of the Chinese Society of Vocational and Technical Education (CSVTE), Ms. PAN Ming, Head of the General Office of CSVTE were invited to visit Beijing Office of ECMDC and met with Chairman ZHANG Yi, Deputy Secretary General HU Zhenming, Ms. Ingrid JIANG, Chairperson of the Board of EU-China Municipal Development Projects Management Co., Ltd, Mr. Shiloh Miller, Member of the Council of ECMDC and General Secretary of Israel Belgium Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Henrich Guntermann, Member of the Council of ECMDC and CEO of European Consortium of Technology Transfer (ECTT). Both parties exchanged the views to the full as for the issue of promoting Sino-European vocational education cooperation, and defined the timeline and road map for the follow-up.

Mr. ZHANG Yi and Mr. LIU Zhanshan (Left Three), Mr. Shiloh Miller (Left Two), Mr. Henrich Guntermann (Right Three), Ms. PAN Ming (Left One), Ms. Ingrid JIANG (Right Two), Mr. HU Zhenming (Right One)

Mr. ZHANG Yi extended his warm welcome to the visiting of Mr. LIU Zhanshan and Ms. PAN Ming. He said, the Chinese government attaches great importance to the talent training, and is determined to develop vocational and technical education (VTE) in a better way, while the Belt and Road Educational Move is ready to be implemented. Against this background, it is very necessary for ECMDC and CSVTE to discuss the issue of promoting Sino-European vocational education cooperation, which will surely be of great significance. On the basis of the previous communication, ECMDC has evaluated the tangible proposal in line with the current situation and actual demands of Chinese vocational education. ECMDC now introduces Mr. Henrich Guntermann, German CEO of ECTT and Mr. Shiloh Miller, General Secretary of Israel Belgium Chamber of Commerce to CSVTE with a view to exploring the best way to implement the advanced ideas of VTE and mobilize the resources of Germany, other European countries and Israel, which will serve to boost the development of China’s VTE.

Mr. LIU Zhanshan expressed his gratitude to the considerate arrangement of Mr. ZHANG Yi, and appreciated the highly efficient and down-to-earth working style of ECMDC. He made the detailed introduction of the current situation of China’s VTE and CSVTE to the foreign guests. He said, since China is at the stage of economic structural transformation and industrial upgrading, CSVTE, the nationwide institution is burdened with the mission of providing the professional and academic instruction to the development of China’s VTE, and creating the platform for the international cooperation, the integration of academic studies and industrial R & D. In this way, CSVTE serves the national policies “Made in China 2025” and “the Belt and Road” Initiative. Considering the fact that Germany and Israel have their advantages in VTE, CSVTE is quite willing to explore the future cooperation with Mr. Guntermann and Mr. Miller, and elaborately selects the concrete cooperation projects. The cooperation can develop from a point to the whole picture in order to introduce the advanced ideas, technologies and teaching of European VTE into China in a systematical way, and create the new model for Sino-European people-to-people communication in the aspect of VTE.

Mr. Henrich Guntermann said, it is his great pleasure to meet with Mr. LIU Zhanshan and Ms. PAN Ming and discuss the future cooperation with CSVTE, the most authoritative institution of VTE in China. He introduced that, it is German VTE that has laid the solid foundation for the advanced German manufacturing industry. So, it is of great significance for China and Germany to carry out the cooperation in this field. He remarked, while German education authorities promote the basic research and vocational education, more and more employees are encouraged to consistently study new technologies and knowledge and participate in the creative R & D of enterprises at which they serve. Therefore, VTE of today has been entrusted with twofold responsibilities, namely professional capacity building and creative capacity cultivation. The famous dual system of Germany ensures that the undergraduate students amply apply their theoretical knowledge to the working practice. The success of the dual training system increasingly encourages German enterprises to adopt various favorable means to mobilize employees to participate in the on-the-job vocational training. Nowadays, the incumbent employees and researchers have become the backbone of creative development of enterprises. Mr. Guntermann seconded the proposal of Mr. LIU Zhanshan, namely to choose the concrete cooperation projects. He mentioned that since China has become the top country in the world as for the manufacturing and selling of automobile vehicles, there is a vast market for vocational education and training of automobile industry in China. Mr. Guntermann has the cooperation with the concerned authorities of the State of Saxony for more than 10 years, while Saxony is the important base for automobile manufacturing in the world. He is quite willing to promote the partnership between CSVTE and automobile manufacturing factories located in Saxony, and introduce the resources of the concerned professional associations including professional standards, certificates etc. into the cooperation projects. ECTT stands ready to work with ECMDC and CSVTE to implement Sino-German automobile industry vocational education cooperation.

Mr. Shiloh Miller, General Secretary of Israel Belgium Chamber of Commerce remarked that everyone recognizes the importance of VTE and its close connection with the development of enterprises, even the fate of a nation. He introduced World ORT to Mr. LIU Zhanshan. ORT is a global Jewish educational and training organization which enhances the social and economic prospects of individuals and communities by giving them the creativity, employability and entrepreneurial skills they need for life. ORT is the largest organization of its kind in the world, with a unique global reach. Mr. Miller has a good connection with the management level of ORT, which has the history of more than 100 years. He is quite willing to introduce ORT to CSVTE with a view to establishing the cooperation. In the meanwhile, he mentioned that, he has been working in Africa for decades and witnesses the increasing influence of China in Africa. While noting Chinese enterprises work to better the life of Africans through various engineering projects, Mr. Miller believes that the Chinese government and enterprises could expand their social influence in the local region through more and more vocational education training and cooperation projects, which will lay the solid foundation for the future further cooperation. Mr. Miller said, he stands ready to work with ECMDC to assist CSVTE in designing, planning and constructing the future VTE center of China in Africa in order to support the Belt and Road construction in Africa.

Mr. LIU Zhanshan expressed his thanks to the related introduction and concrete proposals from Mr. Guntermann and Mr. Miller. He said, he will step up the process of establishing the strategic partnership agreement between CSVTE and ECMDC, which will lay the foundation for the follow-up.

Mr. ZHANG Yi said, he is quite happy to find that both parties have developed the definite road map and timeline for the follow-up after several rounds of negotiation. With CSVTE as the partner in China, ECMDC will rely on European team to introduce the best quality vocational education resources of Europe into China in order to serve China’s national policies and strategies. 

The meeting concluded amid the friendly atmosphere.