On 17th of May, the Construction Conference for Shandong Province and Korea Vocational Education Exchange and Cooperation Research Center was held in Weihai Vocational College. The signing ceremony on exporting the College vocational education standards was carried out during the conference. The conference went both online and offline. Mr. Sun Zhongfeng, Vice President of the College, Ms. Sun Aijuan, Dean of International School of the College, Mr. Gao Shaoshan, Deputy Director of International Office of Shandong University (Weihai), and researchers from the Center attended the offline conference, while Ms. Lim Mi Hyun, President of the Korean Institute for Evaluation of Vocational Qualifications, Mr. Lee Chang Ho, Chairman of Sino-Korea Exchange Promotion Committee, and delegates from Wonkwang University, Kongju National University and Sungkyul University took part in the conference online.
Mr. Sun Zhongfeng introduced the college’s work on international cooperation and exchanges, especially those with South Korea. He said that Weihai and South Korea are close and friendly neighbors and that in recent years, the College has carried out successful and productive cooperations with the universities in Korea, making full use of this geographical advantage. This year and the next are Sino-Korea Cultural Exchange Years, so he hoped that both parties would work hand-in-hand to deepen the cooperation in education and culture and promote in-depth cultural exchanges between China and South Korea.
Ms. Lim Mi Hyun said that it is of great significance for promoting the development of vocational education in both countries to develop universal vocational education standards for disciplines and curricula and to cultivate skilled talents based on the standards. She hoped that based on the Center, the two parties can make contributions to the development of vocational education for the two countries.
After that, the two parties held a signing ceremony for the cooperation agreement and the export of the College vocational education standards.
An appointment ceremony was also held during the conference. Ms. Sun Aijuan, Director of the Center, presented the Letters of Appointment to the distinguished project consultants and distinguished experts.
Mr. Gao Shaoshan was appointed as consultant of the Center. He delivered a speech hoping that the College would take the opportunity of the establishment of the Center to integrate the educational resources in the two countries and initiate other vocational colleges in Shandong Province to carry out cooperation with South Korea and make more contributions to the industry-college-research collaboration and the development of vocational education between the two countries.
Mr. Lee Chang Ho was appointed as distinguished expert by the Center. He expected that a platform for Sino-Korean cooperation in vocational education and economic development will be set up through the Center, which is of great significance to the development of vocational education between the two countries.
Mr. Kim Hyo Chul was appointed as distinguished expert by the Center. He hoped that this event would help boost the internationalization of Chinese vocational education standards and the joint construction and sharing of quality education programs, which may in turn help cultivate more highly skilled international talents.
Ms. Sun Aijuan made a concluding remark. She said that the primary task of the Center is to carry out comparative researches on vocational education of the two countries, organize exchanges on vocational education between the two countries, academic forums and skill competitions and promote in-depth exchanges and cooperation on the vocational education between the two countries. She hoped that both parties would enhance communication and understanding and turn the Center into a bridge and platform for Sino-Korean vocational education exchanges and boost the exchange between the two countries to a new horizon.
Shandong Province and Korea Vocational Education Exchange and Cooperation Research Center is a center for regional and country studies approved by Shandong Provincial Department of Education and Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government in December 2020. It is the only official agency for research on Korean vocational education within Shandong Province.
There are 23 researchers in the Center with 14 of them having got the Ph.D. Targeted at promoting quality improvement and vocational education development in the province, the Center will devote itself to expanding and deepening the opening-up and cooperation of vocational education and turn the Center into a think tank for promoting the Sino-Korean exchange and cooperation on vocational education and a model for sharing and promoting experiences within the province.
At present, the College has started in-depth exchanges and cooperation with Korean vocational colleges and vocational qualification certification agencies and exported quality vocational education standards to Korea. After the expert review, industry evaluation and trials at the discipline level at the preliminary stage, the Korea Vocational Qualification Evaluation Institute has decided to adopt 5 disciplinary standards and 10 curricular standards developed by the College.
Later on, the Center will offer consultation and build bridges and platforms for promoting the exchange and cooperation between the Province and South Korea. It also aims to enhance the Sino-Korean cooperation on vocational education to wider fields and higher levels through sponsoring different kinds of exchanges and in-depth cooperation programs.