The international University of East Africa, with the aid of acclaimed vocational training institutes from the People’s Republic of China, seeks to add vocational training programs to its already extensive catalog of internationally accredited courses. Offering vocational training programs will enable IUEA to cater to a wider variety of passions and afford its students more opportunities to work in the field. To uphold the standard expected from a highly lauded academic institution, it aims to partner with reputable vocational training institutes namely:
- The Chongqing Water Resources and Electric Engineering College (CWREEC)
- Chongquing Jianzhu College
- Dongying Vocational Institute
- Xianyang Vocational Technical College
- CIICie
What is Vocational Education Training?
Vocational Education Training (VET) can be defined as a learning experience tailored and purposed for the impartation of skills specifically required to carry out a specified profession. This definition takes into account VET being aimed towards meeting industry standards as opposed to those of the community Gavin Moodie (2002). Similar to apprenticeships where learning is by way of observing, mimicking and correcting oneself instead of applying general principals ascribed in classrooms and textbooks, vocational education is based on non-verbal or tacit knowledge (Stevenson, 1998).
What led to the proliferation of Vocational Training Institutes?
School is to prepare for a vocation and that vocation is to be selected wisely
– Said Ryan W Carson (1919) in Vocational Guidance and Public schools
The concept of vocational training dates back to the twentieth century as reformers argued that the fundamental purpose of a learning institution is to prepare youth for a particular profession and integrate them into the working environment. This led to a movement that demanded scholastic curriculums be shaped to fit workplace requirements. In the early 1900s, various businessmen, industry leaders, educators and intellectuals argued the need for vocational training institutes and the National Association of Manufacturers, in particular, acknowledged vocationalism’s role in Germany’s budding industrial supremacy (Harvey Kantor, 1986). The evident economic advantages of vocational training thus hastened the adoption of vocationalism.
Can a top paying job be attained through Vocational Training programs?
There are a variety of high paying jobs that can be acquired through VET courses. Many of these vocational training programs in the field of engineering are offered by IUEA’s prospective partners and perfectly complement many of the marketable courses currently offered by IUEA. Some of these high paying trade jobs include:
- Electrical and Electronics Technicians
- Electricians
- Construction and Building Inspectors
- Construction Managers
Who are IUEA’s prospective partners?
IUEA has vetted and initiated discussions with some of the most prestigious vocational training institutes. The CWREEC, for example, is a full time vocational training institute with a graduate employment rate of over 96% and a 90% graduate satisfaction rate. While the tech-centric Chongquing Jianzhu College also boasts an equally outstanding graduate employment rate of 96%, it also employs highly qualified professionals 46% of whom hold senior professional titles. This clearly conveys the first-class standard IUEA expects from its partners.
Who are IUEA’s prospective partners?
These institutions are not only expertly staffed but are also laying claim to some of the most coveted awards in all of vocational academia. The Dongying Vocational Institute, for instance, has successively been awarded:
- The National Excellent Unit for Vocational Core Competence Training
- The National Advanced Unit for Innovation
- The Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Vocational Education
On the other hand, the Xianyang Vocational Technical College’s teaching building claimed the highly sought after “Chang’an Cup” Provincial Quality Engineering Award and its student body has won a total of 149 national and provincial vocational skills competition awards
What would this partnership entail?
IUEA and its potential partners aim to collaborate in matters regarding culture and academia. This partnership would include the following:
- The relevant leaders and departments from either side maintain a continuous exchange, communicate and negotiate cooperation items and issues of common concern.
- Both parties agree to sponsor activities such as student exchange, teacher training and academic communication and together agree to educate and develop world standard talented people to meet the needs of the international communities, worldwide.
- Unveiling the Dayu College. The prospective partners would jointly carry out the development of water conservancy and hydropower construction projects and power system automation technology professional curriculum resources, the creation of professional teaching standards and curriculum standards, strengthen the training of African teachers, the training of outstanding students to study in China and the cooperation of water conservancy and hydropower construction projects and power system automation technology professional skills training, and invite Dar-es-Salaam Institute of Technology to join the “the Belt and Road” water conservancy and hydropower construction projects and power system automation technology professional construction alliance
- Having Sino-foreign cooperation in education for the training programs
