UK Further Education colleges are invited to participate in the British Council’s funded FE mission to Tianjin and Beijing from 20 to 26 March 2018. The FE mission is specifically designed for UK FE colleges to:

• deepen their understanding of the Chinese vocational education sector
• raise brand awareness
• increase student recruitment
• establish wider institutional partnerships in China[1]

Context

China is shifting from an economy based heavily on low-cost, low-skill manufacturing for export to an economy based on higher quality goods and services. To achieve this transition, China has set up the Made in China 2025 strategy to massively ramp up skill levels and continuously push for reformation, innovation and internationalisation in the vocational education sector. 

The FE sector has grown quickly in recent decades, and China now has 12,300 vocational schools, collectively hosting nearly 27 million students and annually recruiting 9.3 million new students. However, the sector still faces challenges, such as setting up practical education reform plans, developing comprehensive curricula, forming industrial partnerships and attracting educational talent. There is therefore a demand and opportunities for the UK FE sector to explore potential collaboration with the sector in China in teacher training, consultancy, college-enterprise links and wider collaboration areas.

During the FE college panel discussion session at recent agent workshops organised by the British Council, feedback from local agents indicated that the UK FE sector should be more active in the market. The agents and the public are keen to understand more about the advantages of the sector, as well as unique selling points of individual FE institutions and programmes.

Programme

* Please note that the above is a draft itinerary and is subject to change.

Participation fee:

Day 1 to Day 4: Free of charge

Day 5 to Day 7: GBP 1,500 + VAT

All domestic transportation, accommodation and meals will be covered by the British Council.

Please note international flights and visa fees will not be covered by the British Council.

How to Apply

Please complete the attached application form and send it to SIEM.China@britishcouncil.org.cn by Thursday 01 February 2018.

Please note: places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Appendix

Tianjin

Tianjin borders Beijing and Hebei province, under the co-development plan of JingJinJi (Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei), is only half an hour by train from Beijing. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities under direct administration of the central government.

Tianjin's GDP reached 1.788 trillion yuan in 2016. The city of Tianjin recorded China's highest per-capita GDP Number 5th, following Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Tianjin Municipal Education Commission sees internationalisation as a key development plan of improving the quality of high education and vocational education. Tianjin Government released Tianjin Morden Vocational Education Construction Opinion which aims to establish a high-level national modern vocational education demonstration area by 2020 to suit the urban function of Tianjin as the national advanced manufacturing R&D base, the northern international shipping core area, the financial innovation and operation demonstration area and the reform and opening-up pilot area, to integrate industry and vocational education and to build an world class modern vocational education mechanism.

Tianjin Haihe Education Park is a national experimental zone of higher vocational education reform, directly under the administration of Ministry of Education (MoE). It is also the science and technological innovation demonstration zone in Tianjin. Till 2016, Haihe Education Park has attracted 2 world class universities (Nankai University and Tianjin University), 8 vocational colleges and 2 secondary vocational schools.

Participation Tianjin colleges