iMOVE at the Sino-German Vocational Education and Training Symposium

Experts from the fields of politics, science and business came together for the "Sino-German Symposium: Dialogue amongst Vocational Education and Training Schools and Business" held from 23 to 24 August in Chongqing, China.

On the German end, participants included representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), iMOVE and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), the Greater China Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abroad, the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the German Association of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), the Central Agency for Continuing Education and Training in the Skilled Crafts (ZWH) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

Other attendees included German industrial companies and providers of vocational education and training services.

The organisers of the conference, the Chinese Ministry of Education and BMBF, invited participants to Chongqing to share experiences. The centrally administered municipality of Chongqing is considered to be a prime example for comprehensive reform of urban and rural space, playing a central part in the economic upturn in Western China. A central strategy of the Chinese Government focuses on the development of the education and training sector, first and foremost in the area of vocational education and training.

Projects designed to serve as models were presented at the conference. These included the establishment of the Sino-German Automotive Qualification and Certification Chongqing (SGAQCC) vehicle centre. The kick-off of the Sino-German project was celebrated in an opening ceremony.

In addition, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd., the Shenyang Equipment Manufacturing Engineering School and the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abroad also testifies to the efforts undertaken to progress together in the area of vocational education and training.

Numerous German providers are already successfully up and running in vocational education and training in China. However, potential synergies often go untapped since the stakeholders are unaware of the projects going on in parallel. That's why the German Embassy in Beijing has dedicated itself since summer 2011 to the topic of vocational education and training with a view to offering a broad platform to support German training and education stakeholders in China.

The organisers of the conference, the City of Chongqing, the ZWH and the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aboard were able to get a number of competent speakers for the symposium. A positive highlight was the large share of German attendees, including a number of training providers already operating in China.

The topics of "Cooperation between Vocational Education and Training Schools and Industry, Sustainable Training of Skilled Labour and Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training," were enthusiastically discussed with over 200 attendees in three sessions. The symposium will be repeated as part of a series of events to get closer to reaching the goal of spurring on vocational education and training reforms together.

In a speech, iMOVE presented best practice examples of Sino-German cooperation in the field of vocational training and continuing education and promoted "Training - Made in Germany" in the foyer with an info stand. The recently released iMOVE brochure "8 Success Stories from China" and the iMOVE flyers were in high demand. The interest in education and training offers from German continues steady - an impression which was also confirmed in discussions held during the conference.