Organized by ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), from 20 to 21 October 2014, the vocational education delegation from the Singapore Institute of Technical Education (ITE), an institute in charge of vocational technical education under the Ministry of Education of Singapore, and its three affiliates, namely, ITE College East, ITE College Central and ITE College West attended the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) World Congress 2014 and visited vocational technical education institutes in Beijing. This visit was a follow-up activity of the Chinese vocational colleges’ASEAN tour to the Singapore ITE on 31 - 1 April 2014.
The return visit to China aimed at seeking and building functional cooperation in vocational education between Singapore and China. Under ACC’s guidance, the Singapore delegation visited Beijing Information Technology College (BITC), Beijing Business School (BBS) and Beijing Polytechnic College (BPC). The three institutes are window schools on vocational education in Beijing and even in China, which own advanced school-running concepts, talents training modes as well as up-to-date facilities, and have cultivated a large number of application-type talents. The Singapore Delegation was warmly welcomed by the institutes’ leaders during the visit in Beijing. In the exchange meeting, Mr. Lim Teck Lee, head of the Singapore delegation and Deputy Principal of ITE College East acknowledged ACC's role in facilitating the visit, and briefed on ITE and its three affiliates’current development, courses opening, specialized characteristics and development ideas in the future, as well as their intentfon to cooperate with Chinese vocational education colleges. Representatives from BITC and BPC introduced their respective colleges' history, major features, courses setting, international exchanges and advantages.
Besides the exchange meeting, the Singapore delegation visited the said colleges and schools' training base and facilities to better understand the schools. Representatives from China and Singapore institutes said that the visit was very useful to explore further cooperation in vocational education between China and Singapore, and stated that the two sides would continue to communicate, hence, build long-term cooperation and partnership. Ms. Huang Yingying, Education Assistant of ACC accompanied the delegation during the visit.
Beijing Polytechnic College (BPC) is among the first group of national exemplary vocational colleges which have passed the assessment of the Education Ministry of China and is honored as one of the national demonstrative tertiary vocational colleges. Beijing Information Technology College (BITC) is a national level mainstay tertiary vocational college and also a exemplary tertiary vocational college in Beijing. Founded in 1964, Beijing Business School (BBS) is an ordinary public full-time secondary school. BBS belongs to Beijing Xianglong Assets management Co., Ltd., which is State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commissionof the State Council (SASAC)of China State-owned large enterprise group in Beijing, and is an important national level secondary vocational school, as well as an exemplary school for the vocational education modernization.