On November 21st, the 2024 World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference opened in Tianjin. Chen Miner, the Secretary of Tianjin Municipal Committee, and Wang Dongming, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng chaired the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote report. Our school's President Ma Yuxia was invited to attend the conference and delivered a special lecture at the parallel session.
Minister Huai Jinpeng pointed out in his keynote report that vocational education is closely linked with economic and social development, bearing important responsibilities such as cultivating diverse talents, passing down technical skills, and promoting employment and entrepreneurship. It serves as a primary channel for skill reshaping, a fundamental approach to improving people's livelihoods, an important track for fostering new productive forces, and a significant force for serving socio-economic development and pursuing modernization. Vocational education should adapt to trends in the era, adhere to its essence, maintain its characteristics, anchor development coordinates amid challenges and opportunities, seek innovation breakthroughs amid risks and opportunities, and become 5I education that is inclusive, industry-oriented, innovative, intelligent, and international. China is willing to work together with other countries around the world to strengthen mutual learning and sharing, build together, share together, join hands in implementing the global development initiative, and contribute to accelerating the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
During the afternoon session on Integrating Vocational Education with Lifelong Learning, Ma Yuxia presented her perspective on Practicing Lifelong Learning Concepts to Service the Construction of a Skilled Society. She detailed our school's experiences and practices in implementing the spirit of the National Vocational Education Conference, deepening educational reforms, and pushing forward with Everyone Holds a Certificate, Achieving Skilled Henan. She emphasized that our school fully plays its role as a main battleground for vocational skill training in higher vocational colleges, integrates academic education with professional training, creates a digitalized, differentiated training model, establishes a organizational, institutional, incentive three-dimensional guarantee mechanism, making outstanding contributions to building a skilled society where the nation values skills, society reverences skills, everyone learns skills, everyone possesses skills. Meanwhile, our school actively participates in the Belt and Road initiative by establishing overseas Zhan Tianyou Institutes to widely share Chinese experiences and contribute Chinese wisdom. To date, it has trained over 2700 local students from abroad and more than 400 local teachers, effectively serving five overseas railway lines including Kenya's Mombasa-Nairobi railway, Ethiopia's Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, Laos' China-Laos railway, etc. This significantly promotes infrastructure connectivity and regional economic and social sustainable development along the Belt and Road route, demonstrating the responsibility and commitment of Chinese vocational colleges in practice. The theme of this conference is Innovation Empowers Future, Skills Shape Lives, featuring opening ceremonies, keynote reports, ministerial roundtable meetings, parallel sessions among others.
The conference, themed Innovation Empowers the Future, Skills Enlighten New Lives featured opening ceremonies, keynote reports, ministerial roundtable meetings, parallel sessions, and more. Over 1200 government officials, diplomatic envoys, and representatives from international organizations and educational institutions from more than 100 countries and regions around the world gathered together to discuss and promote high-quality development in global vocational education. They also officially released the Tianjin Consensus on World Vocational and Technical Education and Training Development: Declaration of Ministers of 32 Countries.
