“Eight Pakistani enterprises have entered into an industry-education alliance with Luban Workshop, providing students with job opportunities,” Ms. Zhang added.
By giving local youth technical skills, Luban Workshop—a joint project of Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) and Tianjin Modren Vocational Technology College, China—is empowering local youth.
“So far, 33 Pakistani graduates have received both a Chinese academic certificate and a Pakistani vocational training certificate,” said Ms. Zhang Ying, director of Tianjin Modern Vocational Technology College’s international department (CEN).
Under this programme, students first enrol in a six-month course at Luban Workshop, followed by a 24-month study at Tianjin Modern Vocational Technology College on electrical automation, and a six-month internship at businesses affiliated with the workshop.
“Eight Pakistani enterprises have entered into an industry-education alliance with Luban Workshop, providing students with job opportunities,” Ms. Zhang added.
The workshop, which was unveiled at the Punjab TEVTA in 2018, primarily supports Lahore and Multan’s industrial modernization to aid Pakistan’s industrial transformation and agricultural mechanisation.
32 teachers from China and Pakistan have created 160 pieces of courseware, six textbooks, one set of simulation software, and nearly 1,500 minutes of instructional video in an effort to develop technical talent with the necessary skills.
The star course, Industrial Automation and Robotics, which is a part of Punjab’s technical education and vocational training system, has trained 13,572 technical youth in neighbouring provinces, completed 4,000 hours of classroom instruction locally, and seen every student find employment.
“In collaboration with MNS University of Agriculture, Multan, we run a training programme for agricultural machinery.”
A Chinese company donated a self-propelled corn harvester to MNSUAM after a two-month training in October and November of last year, and more advanced equipment is still being introduced to Pakistan,” she told CEN, Ms. Zhang.
In order to advance mechanisation and technological innovation in Pakistan’s agriculture sector, 512 local teachers, students, and users with bachelor’s degrees or higher receive agricultural training each year on average. Each year, three million young people in Pakistan enter the labour force.
However, a lack of access to technical training and an out-of-date training agenda are making it difficult for them to find employment and are impeding the modernization of the nation’s agricultural and industrial sectors. China started the global Laban Workshop project for vocational education.
Up until now, universities in Tianjin have established dozens of these workshops in 19 nations throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, giving local youth the opportunity to learn cutting-edge technologies and support the development of their own countries.