The Myanmar-China Partnership Workshop on Vocational Education was held on May 5th, 2014 in Yangon, the Union of the Republic of Myanmar. The Workshop was organized by ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) and supported by the Myanmar Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Myanmar Embassy in Beijing. 12 Chinese Vocational Colleges from Beijing, Guangxi, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, 16 Myanmar education institutions across Myanmar, including 4 Technological Universities, 4 Government Technological Institutes, 7 Government Technical High Schools and the Department of Technical and Vocational Education of MOST took part in the workshop. Representatives from both sides showed great enthusiasm in the whole-day event and expressed their appreciation to ACC for bringing together TVET executives from Myanmar and China. They believed that the workshop is a milestone for both sides to further their cooperation. The successful and fruitful workshop resulted in 19 institutional bilateral Memorandums of Understanding among them.
H.E. Aung Kyaw Myat, Deputy Minister of MOST, and Dr. Zaw Win, Director-General of the Department of Technical and Vocational Education expressed in their remarks their appreciation to ACC and warmly welcomed the Chinese delegation. They pointed out that vocational education offers a solution to many of the challenges Myanmar faces and lauded the workshop a milestone in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Myanmar and China. Mr. Wang Daoyu, ACC Deputy Director of the Education, Culture and Tourism elaborated on ACC's efforts in promoting and facilitating education cooperation between ASEAN countries and China. He also emphasized the importance of enhancing people-to-people exchange via education and encouraged more Myanmar students to study in China. Mr. Shen Shijiang, Council Chairman of the Jiangsu Institute of Commerce expressed on behalf of the Chinese delegation, his sincere gratitude to the organizers for providing this platform, and introduced the development of Chinese vocational education. He stated that the Chinese vocational institutions are ready to start functional cooperation with Myanmar counterparts.
Mr. Wang Daoyu, together with Mr. Chen Jiquan, Chairman of Zhejiang Yalong Educational Equipment Joint-Stock Co. Ltd., an ACC partner, donated to the Myanmar Ministry of Science and Technology an vocational training equipment worth of RMB 300,000 and offered training opportunities.
In the following session, experts from both sides introduced to each other their respective TVET system, including development, challenges and opportunities. Some of the Chinese vocational colleges also made brief introduction and committed to providing scholarships to Myanmar students to study at their institutions.
During the networking session “College Presidents Round-table”, the Myanmar participants were eager 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 programs. The vocational institutions from both sides concluded 19 Memorandums of Understanding for future cooperation.
The Chinese delegation will also visit Technical University (Thanlyin) and Government Technical High School (Ywarma) in Yangon. Myanmar is the first of the 3 stops of the Chinese delegation in ASEAN Member States. They will be heading for Lao PDR and Cambodia after Myanmar.