In the first ten-day period of July, the China-Africa International Academic Exchange Seminar of Vocational Education and the China-Africa International Cooperation and Exchange Project of Vocational Education co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sports of Uganda were held in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, with the theme of “constructing a community with shared future for mankind and co-building the future tomorrow for the Chinese-African vocational education”. The representatives of 16 Chinese vocational colleges, 40 African vocational colleges, the East Africa University Alliance, UNESCO and Huawei Branch in Uganda attended the seminar. Dong Lisheng, the vice president was invited to enter into a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the Sunmaker Oil & Gas Training Institute and Dire-Dawa College of Science and Technology in Ethiopia.
In the opening ceremony, Muyinge, the minister of the Ministry of Higher Education and State Affair of Uganda indicated that Uganda deemed the vocational education as the engine of social and economic development and transformation and tried to create more employment opportunities for the young people. Uganda was willing to strengthen the exchange and cooperation in the relevant field with China, to jointly promote the construction of the China-Africa cooperation forum. In the meeting of “Transportation and Infrastructure” held later, Dong Lisheng, the vice president introduced that the characteristic development that the school had insisted in recent years and the achievements and practices for the cross-border education service greatly conducted by the school, which intrigued the attending representatives. When the seminar ended, each party attending the seminar entered into the Kampala Initiative, promoting the construction of a Chinese-African community of vocational education, and reached a consensus to establish a Chinese-African cooperation alliance at the beginning of the next year.
From July 8 to 9, as arranged by the seminar organizers, Dong Lisheng and some attending representatives visited the Ethiopia Federal TVET Institute, Huolaita Vocation College and Dire-Dawa College of Science and Technology. During the period, they entered into a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Dire-Dawa College of Science and Technology and the Sunmaker Oil & Gas Training Institute. In accordance with the document, each party will establish a branch or training center with the fund provided by the World Bank and the relevant resources provided by China pursuant to the framework of East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP), helping Ethiopia increase the vocational education training level and promote the development of the local rail transit industry.
