NAIROBI, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Machakos University and China's Tianjin City Vocational College on Thursday signed a three-year cooperation agreement to enhance the role of the Luban Workshop that was established in 2019.
Joyce Agalo, vice chancellor of Machakos University, noted that under the pact, the two parties will expand the enrollment scale of Luban Workshops to boost digital skills in the East African country.
"The agreement will accelerate our common goal of cultivating high-end information communication technology and cloud computing talents," Agalo said during the sharing and exchange conference on Luban Workshop held at Machakos University.
The day-long conference brought together senior government officials from Kenya and north China's Tianjin Municipality to discuss ways to entrench the use of Luban Workshops to transfer practical skills to students.
Li Yan, board chairman of Tianjin City Vocational College, said the two institutions agreed to sign the cooperation agreement in order to enhance partnership in teacher and student exchange.
Li noted that the Luban Workshop is a platform for international cooperation as well as a higher vocational and technical education service to realize the Belt and Road Initiative.
Joyce Ngure, assistant director of research in Kenya's Ministry of Education, said the agreement reflects the shared commitment to innovative capacity building and the pursuit of excellence in technical and vocational education.
Ngure added that beyond empowering Kenyan students, the Luban Workshop will play a crucial role in enhancing Kenya's technical capacity in fields such as manufacturing engineering and information technology.
Lyu Jingquan, the main initiator of the Luban Workshop Brand, said the workshop will deploy the Engineering Practice Innovation Project teaching model that is suited for the cultivation of innovative, compound, applied, and technically skilled talents.
Lyu added that Luban Workshops in Africa will benefit from China's training pattern of vocational teachers to develop African master craftsmen. ■