BEIJING: A signing ceremony for the establishment of an overseas practice base between Shandong Vocational College of Industry (SDVCI) and Infinity School of Engineering (ISE), Pakistan was held via video conference.
“In May 2018, we initially signed the cooperation agreement with Chairman Iqbal Khalid and CEO Abdur Razzaq Gauhar,” noted Wang Zhenguang, the Dean of School of International Exchange and Continuing Education at the Shandong Vocational College of Industry, in an exclusive interview with media.
In October 2019, the first group of ISE overseas students came to SDVCI to start their four-week “industrial intelligent technology” training programme, including skills of intelligent power supply and distribution, Siemens advanced automation and industrial robot application. At present, with the rapid development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the investment and construction of Chinese enterprises in Pakistan is in urgent need.
Therefore, the demand for high-level technical personnel in Pakistan has surged. According to Abdur Razzaq Gauhar, CEO of Infinity School of Engineering, Pakistan is in dire need of to cultivate talents in the fields of Internet+, big data, Internet of Things, intelligent power supply and distribution, industrial robots and so on. According to the Ministry of Education of China, there are currently more than 1,300 majors in vocational schools across the country, training about 10 million high-quality technical talents each year.
In fields such as modern manufacturing, strategic emerging industries and modern service industries, more than 70 percent of the new front-line employees are graduates from vocational schools. On the other hand, problems demanding prompt solution in Pakistan include the insufficient number of vocational schools, the lack of high-quality teachers and curriculum, etc. Although facing economic and cultural differences, there is still a huge room for cooperation between the two countries in regard to vocational education. Cooperation mechanisms, professional standards, curriculum systems are all specific issues that both parties need to explore in depth.
“After finishing the first training program, ISE contacted us, hoping to expand the scope and level of cooperation between the two parties,” Wang Zhenguang emphasized. In 2021, on the occasion of the establishment of the Shandong Province-Pakistan Exchange and Cooperation Research Center, SDVCI and ISE signed a memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement on mutual establishment of overseas training bases. So far, SDVCI has developed five bilingual online professional courses, including Linux Operating System, ZigBee Protocol and Wireless Networking, Android Programming, which are in line with Pakistan’s professional talent training needs.
In addition, a total of 12 backbone teachers can carry out online or offline bilingual teaching. “Before long, we will set up an overseas office in Pakistan’s Infinity College of Engineering and promote the exchange of visits and exchanges of outstanding teachers and students from both sides,” Wang told media. In the future, Shandong Vocational College of Industry will actively respond to the Belt and Road Initiative by establishing the SDVCI Pakistan Branch, further promoting the standardization and specialization of China-Pakistan vocational education cooperation, and cultivating more outstanding professional talents for Pakistan. –Agencies
