Beijing, August 29 (Xinhua) — Overview: Chinese technology supports the development of vocational education in Africa
Strengthening the cultivation of technical talents, especially the expansion of vocational education, is not only a requirement for the economic and social development of Africa, but also an inevitable choice to solve the demographic dilemma in Africa and fully tap into the demographic dividend.
In recent years, China has strengthened vocational education cooperation with African countries, providing support in areas such as technical talent and teaching staff, and has achieved significant results in multiple fields.
Africa urgently needs technical talent support for its development
According to the “Africa Education Transition Report” released by UNICEF and the African Union Commission, by the middle of this century, the number of children and adolescents under the age of 18 in Africa will reach 1 billion, accounting for almost 40% of the global population of the same age group. However, the industrialization and modernization of agriculture in African countries have been relatively slow, partly due to a lack of sufficient technical talent to support their development.
Regional integration organizations represented by the African Union actively promote the training of African technical talents. The African Union issued the “Africa Vocational and Technical Education and Training Revitalization Strategy” in 2007, aimed at promoting the strengthening of vocational and technical education in African countries; The African Union’s Agenda 2063 also includes “good education and skills under technological innovation” as one of its goals.
At the same time, African countries have introduced corresponding policies for the development of vocational and technical talents. Taking South Africa as an example, the Ministry of Higher Education and Training previously issued the White Paper on Post Secondary Education and Training, which proposed reform goals for technical education and training, encouraged the connection between higher education and training systems at all levels, expanded the scale of vocational and technical education and training, and proposed that the number of students in vocational and technical colleges in South Africa should reach 2.5 million by 2030.
However, the cultivation of technical talents in Africa also faces many problems, including insufficient hardware equipment and teaching staff of training institutions, low level of industry university research integration and school enterprise cooperation, insufficient funding investment, and uneven development of vocational and technical education in different regions and social classes.
Chinese technology brings a new atmosphere to vocational education in Africa
Vocational education is an important area of education cooperation between China and Africa. The China Africa Talent Training Cooperation Plan points out that China will continue to strengthen cooperation with Africa in capacity building such as technology transfer, education and training, including the implementation of the “China Africa University 100 Cooperation Plan” and the “the Belt and Road” teacher growth plan, training 500 principals and key teachers for African vocational colleges every year, and training 1000 African native Chinese teachers; Train 10000 local composite talents through the implementation of “Chinese+vocational skills” education. For example, the Confucius Institute in Rwanda began teaching Chinese in 2009 and has successively offered courses such as “Chinese+Bamboo Weaving Technology Training”, “Chinese+Medical Training”, and “Chinese+Agricultural Technology Training”.
Luban Workshop is one of the key cooperation projects in education and vocational training between China and Africa. At present, China has built 17 Luban workshops in 15 African countries, setting up majors in machinery, railways, etc., to meet the needs of African industrialization and China Africa capacity cooperation, and promote local employment. The short-term training organized by some Chinese enterprises under large-scale engineering projects and the vocational and technical colleges built with the assistance of the Chinese government have also played a positive role in cultivating vocational and technical talents in Africa.
Training in agriculture has brought fruitful results. It is reported that China’s mushroom grass technology has driven hundreds of thousands of people in Africa to increase their income, and the promotion and application of China’s hybrid rice technology has increased the average rice yield in many African countries from 2 tons per hectare to 7.5 tons.
China also helps Africa cultivate technical talents through the “invite in” approach. A group of international student programs promote the improvement of technical skills among local young people through short-term training and academic education for African students.