Foreign input sought for vocational education
( 2002-07-11 10:02 ) (1 )

Top Chinese education officials said on Wednesday China will enhance co-operation with foreign partners in developing its vocational education.

"We welcome foreign institutions and companies to co-operate with local governments and vocational schools in China so that a number of high-level vocational training institutes may be established," said Wang Zhan, vice-minister of education, at a news conference.

Wang said that developed countries such as Germany and Australia have already invested in China's vocational education.

"Coming along with such investment is not only the capital investment itself, but also new ideas on how to develop the country's vocational education system," he said.

The vice-minister also announced that the central government will spend more money on vocational education.

He said the money will be mainly used to support the development of vocational education programmes in rural areas and the central and western regions, where nearly 89 per cent of the labour force have received little education.

The minister called on local governments, companies, and non-governmental organizations in China to make joint efforts to assist in developing the country's vocational education system.

According to statistics from Wang's ministry, the number of vocational schools in China stood at more than 19,200 last year, including over 1,000 at the junior middle school level, 17,800 at the senior level and 386 university level training institutes.

Last year there were more than 11 million students studying in China's senior vocational schools, which are the mainstay of vocational education in the country.

The number is over four times the figure for 1980.

Vocational schools have trained 50 million graduates since 1978, most of whom have taken up positions in the manufacturing and service sectors.

In recent years, the training of teachers for vocational education has been strengthened. A training system for teachers has been formed, with 52 national key training bases and many local ones.

Wang said that China's vocational education still faces financial input problems. In 1996, the budget for vocational education took up 11.5 per cent of the total education budget, while in 2000 the percentage dropped to 8.4.