News Analysis |
The CPEC Cultural Communication Centre, under its ‘Talent Corridor’ scheme will offer scholarships to 1000 Pakistani students for “one year vocational trainings”. The training programs will start from November this year in China.
The CEO also said this cross-border education exchange programme is just the initial component and in the next phases, equipment and teachers will be sent to build Pakistan’s vocational training capacity for Pakistani’s. The Chinese vocational education centers, as well as educational parks, would be set up in Pakistan in future, she added.
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Scholarships to Study
The students will study tuition-free and will be given lodging during the course of the training at different universities and institutes in China, said Echo Lee, Director General, CPEC 3C and CEO of St. Xianglin Management and Consulting Company, said while talking to local media here on Sunday.
They will be taught outer-space and high-speed train technology in the first level of the programmes while in the middle level, they will be provided training in hydro-power and solar energy engineering.
Perhaps, other provinces in Pakistan should lobby for such centers aswell, like interior Sindh and south Punjab. Youth capacity building by the Chinese ought to be spread equally throughout Pakistan, so a maximum number can benefit from Chinese expertise.
The students selected for the last levels will receive training in maneuvering and handling machinery. Echo Lee said this year, 1,000 students will be offered 20 majors from a high level to lower level classes as compared to 100 scholarships in six majors last year. Details are still under review between officials of Pakistan Ministry of Planning, Development, and Reforms and the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing.
The CPEC 3C is located in China’s Suzhou Vocational University, which has “world-class facilities and faculty and its functions include Sino-Pak students exchange, academic research and seminars, vocational education, organizing cultural experience camps and teachers exchange”, she added.
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While addressing a question, she claimed that China’s vocational training capacity is world class surpassing Japan and Germany in some areas. She said her organization has plans to donate resources for vocational training to institutions in Pakistan, and they seem thrilled about it.
When questioned about past activities, she said her organization has signed a MoU with Khyber Pakhtunkhaw (KP) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) governments to establish cultural communication centers under the CPEC umbrella. Centers like these will provide the foundation for future youth development initiatives within the CPEC agreement.
Perhaps, other provinces in Pakistan should lobby for such centers as well, like interior Sindh and south Punjab. Youth capacity building by the Chinese ought to be spread equally throughout Pakistan, so a maximum number can benefit from Chinese expertise.