China's Vocational Blueprint: Empowering African Youth Skills in the G20 Era

China has been a champion of advancing manufacturing globally.

Now, how does the G20 summit's focus on youth skills align with China's own talent development programs?

China has been very active on almost all type of global institutions, most important platforms like AIPAC, G20, whatever you mention it in the BRICS forum, et cetera.

So Chinese approach is there to advance the manufacturer.

We rest in the belief that technology go hand in hand with the workforce development.

So the high slogan is high quality development.

This is very much in conformity with Emil Kahn's philosophy that people people are the ends.

But of course, China also takes people as a mean, because if we really move on the new stage of technology, like artificial intelligence, big data, automation, the robotization sector, people need to be equipped with such subtle skills on the front line.

But on the other hand, our educational system needs to catch up with the fundamental research and also teach those designers and also engineers.

And then China

has rolled out a whole series of major national programs

It's a continuation of Made in China initiative by bringing about the apprenticeship because that's the Chinese tradition where the young learners, be it student, be it the practitioners, they normally would go through a process to get together with a mentor through a number of protocols and also the government encourages the type of tri-party contracts where employer, mentor and also the parents will also join to support such sort of program and so that all stakeholders are able to see what will the trainer be able to turn out and what type of benefits in terms of salary, in terms of work environment, in terms of the career advancement, so that they will be able to be satisfied with the agenda set forth for such sort of training program.

Well, China is also facing the challenge of educational reform because by the Confucius tradition, most people, they wanted to do master degree PhD degree, etc., but we do need a lot more vocational training, people with the right type of skill sets to be able to cope with the new generation of the technicians, digital operators, and manufacturing engineers, instead of bringing most of the young people onto the research track.

So these programs, they are able to combine theoretical conditions together with the employer partnership so that we are able to move ahead with an advanced fraction.

And besides that, We also focus on the type of climate transformation, because people need to be aware that they are engaged in green operation, and they learn the skill as how we can really, China meets its global commitment for the carbon neutrality and the carbon peaking program.

So now you talk about the G20, I think the G20 is doing the right thing on youth skills that is able to align naturally with the domestic agenda, which is most important because the different countries have different culture, different economic, and also religious foundations.

So therefore, to cater to the basic community and to cater to the stage of industrialization, urbanization.

It is something that is important because there is no real solution that can change all.

So I'm also responsible to generate some programs for the entrepreneurship training for the APAC, the Asian Pacific Economic Conference.

So therefore, I think we can really synergize with all that.

And as a matter of fact, before the COVID, I was working with UNDP, to generate a sort of three-year training program.

Hopefully that can really be located in the in the Oriental Park of where it's an incubator and also it's a host of so many Chinese companies over there employing so many of the local people.

so that people are given the bilingual skills and also by operational skills.

Absolutely.