On December 5, Zhejiang Industry & Trade Vocational College (ZJITC) held the exchange conference at its Oujiangkou Campus in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, on advancing the development of the Center for Chinese Language and Professional Skills at Tsingshan Dinson in Zimbabwe. The event was organized under the guidance of the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of the Ministry of Education and the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Talent Center (CNMITC), co-hosted by ZJITC and Zhejiang Dinson Holding Co., Ltd., and supported by Higher Education Press. Under the theme “Multi-Party Collaboration in Resource Development to Empower the Global Expansion of Private Enterprises”, participants engaged in in-depth exchanges on topics such as the development and international implementation of “Chinese + Vocational Skills” teaching resources. Those present included CNMITC Director Song Kai, ZJITC President Yu Chuang and Vice President Wang Yan, Li Guangliang, Director of the Overseas Publishing Department of Higher Education Press, Professor Wang Fahong from Binzhou Polytechnic and member of the National Mechanical Vocational Education Teaching Steering Committee, and Tungamirai Eric Mupona, Vice Chairman of the China-Zimbabwe Exchange Center. The conference was chaired by Vice President Wang Yan.
President Yu Chuang extended a warm welcome to all participants, introduced the college’s 65 years of educational achievements and international development, and highlighted the long-standing partnership between ZJITC and Dinson Holding. He emphasized that the expansion of the global reach of the “Chinese + Vocational Skills” initiative is vital to serving national strategies, supporting enterprise internationalization, and promoting cross-cultural exchange and mutual learning. President Yu proposed a three-pronged approach to deepen cooperation: ensuring resources take “deep root”, enabling collaboration mechanisms to “branch out”, and helping the Center “bear fruit” through sustainable resource development and talent cultivation.
In his speech, Li Guangliang noted that the Chinese Language and Professional Skills Center initiative represents a key practice for advancing the joint internationalization of the Chinese language education and vocational training. He also outlined Higher Education Press’s systematic efforts to advance vocational education abroad, including developing multilingual textbook systems, multimodal teaching resources, multi-channel promotion strategies, and diverse instructional services, all aimed at providing comprehensive support for localized talent development overseas.
In the expert presentation session, CNMITC Director Song Kai delivered a thematic report online, outlining national policies driving the internationalization of “Chinese + Vocational Skills”. Using the nonferrous metals industry as an example, he noted that by the end of 2024, Chinese enterprises had invested in more than 130 overseas nonferrous metals projects, employing nearly 500,000 local staff. He emphasized that accelerating talent supply-side reform, strengthening college-enterprise collaboration, and improving resource investment mechanisms are critical to the high-quality advancement of the initiative. Song also shared the industry’s successful experience in developing local team leaders through a “training + competition” model, which has effectively improved localized management in Chinese-invested enterprises abroad.
At the conference, President Yu Chuang, Liu Jiuqing, Deputy Director of CNMITC’s Training Department, and Li Guangliang, Director of the Overseas Publishing Department of Higher Education Press, jointly unveiled the first batch of “Chinese + Vocational Skills” textbooks for the Center for Chinese Language and Professional Skills at Tsingshan Dinson in Zimbabwe.
In the thematic report session, Professor Wang Fahong from Binzhou Polytechnic, Liu Jiuqing from CNMITC, He Shaobo, Assistant General Manager of Dinson Holding, Tungamirai Eric Mupona from the China-Zimbabwe Exchange Centerr, and Wang Shihui, Director of the Integrated Publishing Branch of the Overseas Publishing Department of Higher Education Press shared insights from multiple perspectives, including institutional practice, industry support, corporate needs, international exchange, and integrated publishing as they related to the development of the Center.
During the discussion session, four ZJITC faculty members — Zhang Jie, Tang En, Tang Xingxing, and Wang Anman—presented on the design, concepts, content features and teaching applications of four newly developed textbooks: Practical Industrial Chinese, Metallurgical Professional Literacy, Team Management in Metallurgical Enterprises, and General AI Literacy.
The successful convening of this conference further strengthened collaboration among government, educational institutions, enterprises, and publishing sectors, laying a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the Center for Chinese Language and Professional Skills at Tsingshan Dinson in Zimbabwe. Participants also included Tao Ruixue, Assistant Manager of CNMITC’s Training Department, Liu Zhiwei, Manager of Overseas Expansion Projects at Higher Education Press, Ye Yu, Manager of Overseas Department and Huang Jianqin, Regional Manager, both from Yalong Group, as well as representatives from ZJITC’s administrative offices, secondary schools and the faculty members.
