Taicang to establish Sino-German education park

Taicang, in Jiangsu province, is set to collaborate with a German technical education group to establish a training center that aims to foster highly skilled professionals with vocational competence for China's new energy vehicle industry.

The Christiani E-Mobility Vocational Education Center, jointly established by Germany's Paul Christiani GmbH & Co and Taicang High-Tech Zone, will offer education and certification for automotive professionals, encompassing vocational school educators and new energy vehicle technicians from Taicang and the Yangtze River Delta region.

The goal is to develop internationally certified automotive specialists, industry professionals and skilled technicians to address regional and national demands.

The initiative aims to become a focal point for nurturing talent in the automotive sector and to bolster, complement and expand the new energy vehicle industry in Taicang, thereby fostering industrial clustering effects, according to Taicang's city government.

Established in 1931 and based in Konstanz, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, Christiani is a conglomerate comprising an examination hub, a curriculum center, an academy, a press and a production center. Its areas of expertise span mechanical engineering, electronics, automation, renewable energy and aviation.

It provides a wide array of resources and professional services in German technical education to government agencies, industry associations, businesses and schools across more than 90 countries.

Cheng Lei, Christiani's greater China region deputy manager, said the training center will draw from Germany's development experience to train professionals, introduce German professional qualifications standards for new energy vehicles, and refer to the German automotive mechatronics talent development standards to establish a curriculum system.

"The foundation of Sino-German cooperation in Taicang is solid, with most of our German industrial partners already established here," she said.

"We hope that they will also transfer their technology and standards to Taicang."

Taicang High-Tech Zone was one of the earliest adopters in China of Germany's dual system of vocational education and training, which combines classroom education with hands-on work experience.

It has established eight dual-system education and training centers, including Kern-Libers, and has expanded its dual-system education from German enterprises to European and US companies as well as local private enterprises.

Over 10,000 professionals have been cultivated by the dual system to support industrial development and transformation in Taicang and surrounding areas.

Taicang High-Tech Zone has also entered into cooperation agreements with Guizhou Shougang Shuigang Technician College and Zhouzhi County Vocational Education Center.

Twenty-nine students from the college have joined Taicang enterprises through the dual-system training programs.

Taicang High-Tech Zone is constructing a Sino-German dual-system vocational education industrial park, spanning a planned area of 300,000 square meters with a total investment of 2 billion yuan ($276 million).

The industrial park, which is expected to be finished and operational by the end of this year, is projected to train over 5,000 skilled professionals a year.

Renowned German vocational education solution providers such as Festo, Bosch-Rexroth, and Weidmuller, as well as professional training institutions such as SITRAIN, Christiani, and TUV SUD, and enterprise training centers including DAWT and Trumpf, along with related educational equipment and exhibition centers, will all establish a presence in the park.