On May 30 in South Africa, the opening ceremony of the first overseas branch of our college – Zhan Tianyou Institute was performed in Eastcape Midlands TVET College of South Africa. Kong Fanshi, the president, Charl van Heerden, the dean of Eastcape Midlands TVET College, Lu Zhilei, the director of the Chinese Culture and International Exchange Center and the relevant persons were present in the activity.
In the symposium held before the opening ceremony, Kong Fanshi, the president introduced the construction and development of the China high-speed railway and the efforts and achievements of the school for serving “the Belt and Road” initiative of the state with the theme of “insistence on characteristic and innovative development and creation of high-level vocation education”. He indicated that the “Zhan Tianyou Institute” was not only the platform of the parties to carry out the vocational education cooperation, but also the bridge to promote the people-to-people exchange between China and Africa and hoped the parties could actively conduct teacher exchange and transnational student movement and jointly create a transportation community between China and Africa in the new age.
Charl van Heerden, the dean warmly welcomed the visit of Kong Fanshi and other persons, and briefly introduced the vocational skill training system and quality assurance system of Eastcape Midlands TVET College. He indicated that he was full of expectation for the co-establishment of the parties for the “Zhan Tianyou Institute” and the joint cultivation of the talents in the rail transit major, because the teacher resources in the domestic rail transit major of South Africa were not rich, and the practical training and internship equipment was lacking.
After the symposium, the Parties performed an opening ceremony for the “Zhan Tianyou Institute” in the office area of Eastcape Midlands TVET College.
Eastcape Midlands TVET College is a technical and vocational education training school opened by Eastcape, South Africa and has 9 campuses. The school has established 8 major groups, such as marketing, finance and accounting, tourism management, engineering technology and information technology. In 2017, 73% of the students acquired a vocational qualification certificate recognized by the government and 874 students were rated as an excellent student.