On November 2, a South Africa higher education delegation of eight members led by Khumalo, Director of Department of Higher Education and Training in South Africa, visited our university. SZPU President Xu Jianling held a symposium with the delegation in the conference room of Mingde Building, and the heads of relevant functional departments and secondary schools attended the symposium. The symposium was chaired by Vice President Li Yue.

Xu Jianling said that China-South Africa relations “have entered a ‘golden age’ with bright prospects and a promising future”. In the critical historical period of the successful start for the construction of vocational undergraduate programs, SZPU hopes to take the visit of the South African higher education delegation as an opportunity to promote close exchanges between the two sides and strengthen cooperation in the construction of overseas vocational education centers, vocational education leadership and teacher training, “Chinese language + vocational skills” training, overseas joint talent training, and development of curriculum standards, and make contribute to the greater development of China-South Africa relations in the new era with practical results.

Khumalo was very pleased to have the opportunity to visit SZPU. He mentioned that during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to South Africa in August this year, the two sides signed a number of cooperation documents, including the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of South Africa on Higher Education and Training. South Africa is currently in a period of vocational education reform and transformation, and the most important purpose of leading the delegation to visit SZPU is to establish contact with the university, seek cooperation opportunities, and work with the university to build landmark demonstration programs for cooperation on higher vocational education between China and South Africa.

Subsequently, the representatives of the two sides held in-depth discussions on cooperation in such fields as the construction of overseas vocational education and training centers, UNESCO digital chairs in vocational education, teacher-student exchanges, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and industry-education integration. They also reached preliminary intention on signing inter-school cooperation agreements, carrying out cooperation on digital chair projects, organizing experts to participate in the “China-South Africa Seminar on Digital Transformation of Vocational Education”, and cooperating with the Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training Agency and the Food & Beverage Education and Training Agency.

Before the symposium, the delegation visited the training rooms of the School of Electronic and Communication Engineering, the School of Automotive and Transportation Engineering and the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and fully affirmed our achievements in respect of industry-education integration.

(Li Simin, International Office)