Two Trinidadians undergo TVET training in China

Two persons attached to Trinidad and Tobago’s MIC Institute of Technology will be participating in a two-week intense Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in China.

These are Assistant General Manager, Nathan Langaigne and Planning & Operations Manager, Tariq Khan.

The training course is taking place at the Ningbo Polytechnic in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China on ‘Vocational Education for Principals’ from November 2-15, 2023.

MIC-IT says the seminar will help it understand the development of China's vocational education, the management mode and school-running mode of China’s vocational education, the curriculum setting and the reform of vocational education.

The organisation’s representatives also will learn best practise in terms of student management and practice of vocational colleges, the teaching management of vocational schools, and the system design and implementation of professional talent training programmes.

“This training opportunity, which is fully funded by the People's Republic of China, comes at a favourable time, as MIC-IT is well on its way to being the first TVET institution to launch Luban Workshops in Trinidad and Tobago,” MIC-IT revealed.

L to R: Nathan Langaigne, Assistant General Manager, Training Division, MIC-IT and Tariq Khan, Planning & Operations Manager, MIC-IT. [Image courtesy MIC-IT]

The Luban Workshop is named after Lu Ban, an ancient Chinese woodcraft master who was born in 507BC during China's Zhou dynasty and is designed to improve the professional vocational skills of the local workforce.

MIC-IT explained: “Students at the workshop are taught in a model called 'order-form teaching', which means that they are trained and equipped with targeted skills in collaboration with the enterprises they will work at after graduating. Here, students are trained in Chinese technology with Chinese standards as part of a full-court press to globalise Chinese technology.”

It added: “The Chinese government has been willing to listen to host countries involved in the Belt & Road Initiative and marshal plans to transfer industrial skills to these economies.”

MIC-IT points out that to date, China has established Luban Workshops in 19 countries and regions—including Thailand, the UK, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Africa.

Luban Workshops are Chinese vocational workshop programmes that train talent overseas. They become a bridge of friendship between China and foreign countries in educational exchange. The programme has become a "calling card" of China's vocational education.