Qualifi Awarding Organisation is proud to be involved in and support this initiative through our work with PAM Education and their work with the Tianjin Education Commission (TEC) and colleges in the UK. Below are extracts from a document published by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in July 2017.
The collaboration has resulted in the Qualifi Level 3 Diploma in Chinese Culinary Arts jointly developed by Chichester College and Tianjin School of Commerce and Catering. The qualification also marks the first Lu Ban Chinese training kitchen established at Chichester College. The training will be co-delivered with Masters Chef’s from China and their UK counterparts.
Several more UK based Lu Ban projects have been advanced with Qualifi who will be joining colleagues from UK FE colleges, UCL and PAM in attending and speaking at the Tianjin Education Summit in November 2017.
Extracts
The “Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road” initiative, also referred to as “the Belt and Road Initiative” affords opportunities for greater openness, further exchanges and integration. China is ready to work with and expand people-to-people exchanges, strengthen cooperation in the cultivation of talent, and together create a bright future for education.
Mission of Education
Education is vital to the strength of a country and the prosperity of a nation. Educational exchange can serve as a bridge to closer ties and buttress the efforts of these countries toward policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure, unimpeded trade, and financial integration.
China will integrate with the global trends in educational reform and development. Promoting a common prosperity of education will not only strengthen win-win cooperation, but also provide strong stimulus to reform and development in education.
Vision for Cooperation
The partner countries will work together to deepen mutual understanding, expand openness, strengthen cooperation, learn from each other, pursue common interests, face our shared future, shoulder common responsibilities, and work concertedly to build a Belt and Road educational community. We will strive for equal, inclusive, mutually beneficial, and dynamic cooperation in education. We will work together in an endeavor to:
- Promote Closer People-to-People Ties.
- Cultivate Supporting Talent.
- Achieve Common Development.
Priorities for Cooperation
China proposes three main areas of cooperation to speed up the development of education while catering to each country’s educational objectives, referencing to each other’s experience in educational development, and sharing each other’s best educational resources.
Area 1, we aim to carry out cooperation to improve educational interconnectivity which will include:
- Strengthening coordination on education policy.
- Facilitating smooth channels for educational cooperation.
- Breaking language barriers between the Belt and Road countries.
- Fostering closer people-to-people ties.
- Promoting articulation of criteria for mutual recognition of academic credentials.
Area 2, we will deepen cooperation on cultivation and training of talent which will include implementation of the following 4 programs:
- Silk Road Two-Way Student Exchange Enhancement Program.
- Silk Road Co-Operation in Running Educational Institutions and Programs Enhancement Program.
- Silk Road Teacher Training Enhancement Program.
- Silk Road Joint Education and Training Enhancement Program.
Area 3, we will jointly set up concrete mechanisms of cooperation which include the following elements:
- Strengthening high-level consultations on people-to-people exchanges.
- Giving full play to platforms of international cooperation.
- Implementing the “Silk Road Education Assistance Program.”
Chinese Education in Action
The Chinese Ministry of Education will work closely with other entities such as the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and national industrial and trade organizations, to identify important areas for cooperation and to ensure safeguarding mechanisms for operation are in place to facilitate successful implementation.
China will step up the pace of efforts to facilitate the exportation of teaching equipment and traditional Chinese medical services. Qualifi will offer support to foreign partners in running educational institutions and programs, carrying out joint research projects, and providing services to foreign customers. Chinese enterprises should work closely with Chinese education providers in exploring opportunities for cooperation in talent cultivation such as technological innovation and technology transfer.
In 2017, Chinese provinces and cities shall submit their own education action plans detailing concrete efforts to steadily promote educational connectivity and cultivation of talent, and to establish mechanisms for cooperation. In 2018 the common education action plan for the Initiative, which prioritizes cooperation, will be further implemented.