The launch ceremony took place on May 26 for the first South African online program “Chinese + E-commerce” aimed at training teachers and students from vocational and technical colleges, which served as the “Chinese +” program through collaboration between Chinese Culture and International Education Exchange Center and the Confucius Classroom. He Shugui, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Hangzhou Polytechnic, shared the experience in implementing the program on behalf of HZPT as one of the two domestic higher vocational colleges and the only college in the province invited to speak at the meeting. Leaders of Academic Affairs Office and the School of Business Management, relevant personnel and teachers of the Publicity Department, Office of International Education and the School of Business Management attended the meeting.
The launch meeting was hosted by the South African Chinese Culture and International Education Exchange Center. A total of 150 people from relevant government departments and educational institutions attended the meeting, including Embassy of China in South Africa, Chinese International Education Foundation, Zhejiang Digital Economy Society, South African Department of Basic Education, South African Department of Higher Education and Training, Sector Education and Training Authorities, Northern Cape Urban TVET College, South African Qualifications Authority and Chinese partner colleges and enterprises.
He Shugui elaborated on the “Chinese + E-commerce” program for South African students from four aspects: overview of HZPT, international education, South African students cultivation and program development. He said that HZPT would develop closer cooperation with Chinese Culture and International Education Exchange Center, co-establish a joint entrepreneurship base for Chinese and South African college students, continue to explore new paths for the development of education internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and industry-education integration in cross-border e-commerce for the two countries, and strive to forge this program into a model, thereby further enhancing and making contributions to the people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and South Africa.
HZPT always attaches great importance to the development of education internationalization, adheres to the Belt and Road Initiative, and carries out international cooperation through multiple channels, and thus making HZPT rank high among similar colleges in terms of international education in the province. HZPT will proceed to the next step as scheduled by implementing a six-month training for South African students participating in the “Chinese + E-commerce” program. Four course modules including fundamentals of cross-border e-commerce, platform operations, live-streaming and comprehensive training, eleven training topics and one comprehensive practical project have been established for students to grasp the skills of E-commerce operation and independent running of stores, and facilitate their employment in e-commerce ecosysytem. Progression method is adopted for the assessment which means students can proceed into the next stage only if they pass the former one before receiving their certificates. HZPT will spare no efforts in promoting Chinese culture and international educational exchanges in South Africa.
