ACC Organized Myanmar-China Partnership Workshop on Vocational Education in Yangon, Myanmar

The Myanmar-China Partnership Workshop on Vocational Education was held on 5 May  2014 in Yangon, the Republic of the Union 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 China. 12 Chinese vocational colleges from Beijing, Guangxi, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, 15 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 Tertiary Vocational Education Training (TVET) executives from Myanmar and China. They believed that the workshop was a milestone for both sides to further enhance their cooperation. The successful and fruitful workshop resulted in 19  bilateral Memorandums of Understanding among them. 

H.E. Aung Kyaw Myat, Deputy Minister, and Dr. Zaw Win, Director General of the Department of Technical and Vocational Education of MOST expressed in their remarks their appreciation to ACC and warmly welcomed the Chinese delegation. They pointed out that vocational education offered a solution to many of the challenges Myanmar faced and lauded the workshop a milestone in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Myanmar and China. Mr. Wang Daoyu, Deputy Director of the Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ACC 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 were 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 MOST 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.