Seven professional teachers from Chennai, India, have recently finished their training in Tianjin and will become the first teachers at their local Luban workshop to share their vocational education achievements.

Luban is the name of the father of China architecture. He invented construction tools and has become a figurehead for laboring people in China. His name is now used for workshops that train craftsmen.

The overseas Luban workshops are intended to help local schools train certified skilled talents.

In addition to providing teachers returned from China, the new Indian Luban workshop will open online courses to benefit more students. Both Tianjin and Chennai will organize China-India skills competitions and promote internationalization of the workshops and the contests.

Lv Jingquan, deputy director of the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, said Tianjin has initiated 50 majors that meet international standards and intends to offer help to local colleges on talent training.

The first Tianjin Luban Workshop was established in Thailand in April, 2016 and the second one will be established in India next April, signaling that Tianjin vocational education has started to influence other countries.

Lv said, "The government of Tianjin intends to establish five Luban Workshops, three to five Confucius Institutes and three to five Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutes in the future. About 500 Chinese language teachers, professors and volunteers will be sent to join in the teaching."