Sun Chunlan, vice-premier of the State Council, inspected vocational education in Tianjin from May 6 to 7, and attended the opening ceremony of the 2018 National Vocational Education Week and National Vocational College Skills Contest.

Sun stressed that the country should speed up the construction of a modern vocational education system and the cultivation of more qualified technical talent, providing strong support for building a modern economic system.

During the inspection, she visited several vocational colleges and institutes, getting an in-depth understanding of training bases and talent training. A seminar was also held, where opinions and suggestions from teachers and students were expressed.

“Promoting high-quality economic development and providing youths with more opportunities require high-quality vocational education,” she said.

According to the vice-premier, vocational education should adhere to the orientation of development and employment promotion, and improve the talent training system.

She said qualified teachers should be cultivated with two-way talent exchanges between school and enterprise, while attracting teachers with deep theoretical knowledge.

Meanwhile, more efforts should be made to accelerate the formation of a diversified education pattern, and coordinate policies on finance, taxation, and land, with reduced costs and fewer obstacles for enterprises to set up vocational education, she said.

She added that the government should strengthen the establishment of vocational education standards, improve the national qualification framework, and promote mutual recognition of academic qualifications, degrees and professional qualifications, as well as other achievements.

Sun also encouraged students at vocational colleges to adhere to the spirit of model workers and craftsmen’s spirit.