The Nigerian delegation, composed of the head of UNIDO ITPO Nigeria, officials from the Nigerian federal government, as well as representatives from expert groups and enterprises, was present at the seminar. Chinese vocational education enterprises also attended. The discussion focused on "promoting industrial development and progress more effectively by vocational education" to explore new cooperation opportunities between China and Africa in this field.
The delegation first visited the ICT Training Center. The center is jointly built by China (Chongqing) Public Vocational Training Center, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, and Tech Education, providing skill training in 13 technical fields including intelligent manufacturing, big data technology, artificial intelligence, etc.
The delegation also visited practical training classrooms in aerospace, rail transportation, and exchanged in-depth views on the practice of China-Africa vocational education from multiple perspectives such as skill training, employment guidance, and career experience. The Nigerian representatives mentioned that the relative skills training and curriculum resources of the Center are of great significance to the improvement and development of the vocational education system, not only in Nigeria but also the entire Africa. Continuous introduction and extensive cooperation could be further explored.
Seminar on Vocational Education and Industrial Development in China and Africa
In the afternoon, the "Seminar on Vocational Education and Industrial Development in China and Africa" was held at the Center, where representatives from both sides discussed the possible cooperation in vocational education.
The Nigerian representatives pointed out that Nigeria is a country with a large population, 60% of which are young people. As one of the most important economies in Africa, Nigeria currently has a great demand for primary skills, and multilevel training is more practical. The federal government has established an “Industrial Training Fund” to support the construction of training bases in 36 states. Nigeria hopes to optimize its training system in theory, practice and vocational skills through cooperation with China, to promote the level of vocational education domestically and across Africa.
Chinese enterprise representatives stated that in the context of China's promoting digital transformation, the demand for vocational and technical talents in Chinese enterprises is mainly concentrated in information technology and intelligent manufacturing. At present, the Chinese government has formulated a series of policies to invest in the construction of such service systems to mainly serve college students and reemployed youth groups. The operation mode of the Center can be used as a reference by Africa. The two sides can jointly explore the plan of curriculum design and training implementation to promote the orderly development of China-Africa vocational education collaboration.
