On March 26, 2014, the Third Indonesia-China Partnership Workshop on Vocational Education in Jakarta (aka. Workshop on Initiative China-Indonesia TVET Partnership) was held in Jakarta. The workshop, co-organized by ASEAN-China Centre and the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, and SEAMOLEC (Southeast Minister Education Organization Regional Open Learing Centre), was participated by 20 representatives from 10 Chinese Vocational Colleges from Jiangsu, Tianjin and Guizhou, more than 100 representatives from Polytechnics, Community Colleges, and vocational high schools around Indonesia, and more than 150 Indonesian students who came to obeserve the workshop. The participants from both sides showed great enthusiasm, and altogether 93 bilateral MoUs were signed. All the participants expressed their appreciation to ACC for providing such a platform, and believed the workshop will become a milestone for both sides to further their cooperations.
At the opening ceremony, the Secretary General of ASEAN-China Centre, Mr. Ma Mingqiang, elaborated on ACC's efforts in promoting and facilitating education cooperation between ASEAN countries and China, and emphasized the importance of enhancing people-to-people exchange via education, and encouraged more Indonesian students to study in China. Mr. Chaerun Anwar, Education Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing reported the purpose of the workshop, which was a follow-up activity of the two successful workshops held respectively in Jakarta and Beijing, in March and May of 2013, aiming to deepen the intercollegiate cooperation between vocational colleges/schools of Indonesia and China. The head of the Chinese delegation, Mr Ji Wenlin, the Chair of College Council of Jiangsu Agri-animal Husbandry Vocational College, expressed his sincere gratitude to all the organizers, introduced the development of Chinese vocational education, and expressed the wish of starting practical cooperation with Indonesian counterparts. Dr. Gatot Hari, the Director of SEAMOLEC expressed his sincere gratitude to ACC for providing the platform to promote linkages between vocational colleges from both China and Indonesia, and his confidence that all the participants will benefit from the workshop. Mr. Ma Mingqiang also donated to the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture a set of teaching and training equipment worth of RMB300,000. The equipment was manufactured by Yalong Company based in Zhejiang, China, an ACC partner in promoting the development of vocational education in ASEAN countries.
In the following session, senior officials from the Departments of Vocational Education and Secondary Education introduced to the Chinese delegation the system and development of the polytechnics and vocational high schools in Indoensia. Dr. Gatot Hari took the opportunity to showcase the talents and skills of the students studying in SEAMOLEC, and expressed high interest in developing partnership and joint programmes with Chinese vocational colleges. Eight of the Chinese vocational colleges respectively made a brief introduction to their colleges.
During the networking session, the Indonesian participants expressed their eagerness to enhance bilateral cooperation and collaborations with Chinese vocational colleges. They also conversed with the Chinese delegations and discussed ways to further cooperation in students exchange, teaching staff exchange, and joint programmes.
The Chinese delegation will also visit Denpasar, Bali, where they will attend another partnership workshop with more than 20 local vocational colleges/schools, and visit some vocational high schools.
These activities are part of the second group of Chinese Vocational Colleges’ Trip to ASEAN, organized by ASEAN-China Centre, and also one of the warming-up activities of the 7th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week (CAECW), which will be held in September this year, in Guizhou Province. The delegation is headed for Singapore after Indonesia.