Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon on Sunday said the government wants to follow China's “industry-academia linkage” model to enhance technical skills of the country's young generation and expand employment opportunities.
"During our recent visit to China, we saw that the coordination between their industrial sector and educational institutions, or the 'industry-academia linkage' system, is very strong. We want to follow that model in transforming this system," he said.
Milon, also primary and mass education minister, made the remarks while talking to journalists after a meeting titled “Strategic Partnership Between Bangladesh and China in the Education Sector” held at the meeting room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said a ministry release.
He said China's education system is highly advanced and the country is providing scholarship opportunities to Bangladeshi students for higher education.
He also said special initiatives have been taken to simplify the visa process for language teachers coming to Bangladesh from China, while the process of obtaining Chinese visas for Bangladeshi students has already been made easier.
Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman and Prime Minister's Adviser on Education and Primary and Mass Education Mahdi Amin were present at the meeting.
The meeting described as successful the delegation's visit to China from August 25 to 29 under the leadership of the education minister. During the visit, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for establishing the “China-Bangladesh Vocational Education, Training and Research Centre”.
Under the cooperation framework, the two sides will work in various areas, including technical training programs, bilingual educational materials, education-industry linkage, research centers, industrial training, visits to China and specialized training.
Three major cooperation platforms were also inaugurated at the conference. These are the China-Bangladesh Vocational Teacher Training Centre, Bangladesh Vocational Education Research Centre, and Bangladesh “Chinese Language+ Skill Development” Cooperation Centre.
The meeting said the initiatives marked an important step towards a long-term Bangladesh-China partnership. It expressed hope that the initiatives would establish stronger links for Bangladesh's young generation among education, practical skills, industrial demand and future employment.
Secondary and Higher Education Secretary Abdul Khaleque, Technical and Madrasah Education Secretary Md Daud Miah, Primary and Mass Education Secretary Jesmin Nahar and Ambassador of China to Bangladesh Yao Wen were present at the meeting.
