On August 20, China-Africa Vocational Education Cooperation Initiative and the First Working Meeting of 2026 on the China-Africa MOOC Platform, co-hosted by the UNESCO Liaison Office to the AU and the Sino-North Africa Education Innovation Association, was successfully held in Beijing. Fan Yao, Vice President of YWICC, together with relevant persons-in-charge from the International Office and the School of Foreign Studies, attended the conference upon invitation.
Conference Group Photo
Rita Bissoonauth, Director of UNESCO Liaison Office to the AU; Chen Lu, Secretary-General of Sino-North Africa Education Innovation Association; Li Peize, Board Chaiman of Continental Han Feng Network Technology (Bejing) Co., Ltd. / Chinese Testing Intemnational Co. Ltd; and Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the People's Republic of China, attended the event and delivered speeches. Jean-Louis Moulot, Minister Delegate to the Minister of National Education, Literay and Technical Education, in charge of Technical Education, the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, addressed the conference via video link.
Fan Yao Delivers Keynote Speech
During the keynote session, Rita Bissoonauth, Wang Dong, Depuy Diector of Center for Artificial Iteligence General Education, Departnent of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University; Abdoulaye Salifou, Chief Education Sector of UNESCO Liaison Office to the AU, Yang Lihong, Party Secretary of Hunan Technical College of Railway High-Speed, and Si Chuanzhou, Director and Publicity Department of Jining Polytechnic, delivered keynote speeches centering on the co-construction and sharing of the China-Africa MOOC Platform from the perspective of UNESCO standard systems.
With the theme “Leveraging Institutional Strengths to Advance China-Africa Education Cooperation”, Fan Yao elaborated on the Yiwu Solution for China-Africa TVET cooperation based on YWICC’s institutional feature of “thriving with the city and establishing itself through innovation”. He proposed that YWICC will take the development of “Five Centers” as the driving force to build a full-chain international education cooperation complex integrating talent cultivation, standard co-development, entrepreneurship incubation and think-tank services, thus contributing vocational education strength to fostering a new era China-Africa community with a shared future.
Lynette Mwende Ndile, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Kenya to the People's Republic of China; Dieudonne Sawadogo, Counsellor of the Embassy of Burkina Faso to the People's Republic of China; Ukason Macanthony Chika, Counsellor the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the People's Republic of China; Imelda Tiando, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Benin to the People's Republic of China; and Berhan Alemayehu Tekle, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Repubic of Ethiopia to the People's Republic of China, conducted exchanges and discussions themed on “Meeting African Industrial Talent Needs and Deepening China-Africa Vocational Education Cooperation — Key Fields and Implementation Pathways”.
Exchange and Sharing by the International Cooperation and Exchange Office
In the session on “Work Plans and Proposals of Cooperating Institutions for the 2026 UNESCO China-Africa TVET Cooperation Program”, representatives from our college and 13 other first batch implementing institutions including Anhui Water Conservancy Technical College gave presentations and shared insights in turns.
YWICC Selected in the 2026 China-Africa TVET Cooperation Program
Three Courses of YWICC Selected for the China-Africa MOOC Platform
At the certificate-awarding ceremony, Ms. Bissoonauth and Secretary-General Chen Lu jointly presented certificates to institutions selected in the 2026 China-Africa TVET Cooperation Program. Mr. Salifou and Deputy Secretary-General Zhao Yuling awarded certificates for the China-Africa MOOC Platform. YWICC has been selected in the 2026 China-Africa TVET Cooperation Program. Three courses from our college— Foreign Trade Document Handling Practice, Import and Export Business Operations, and International Business Communication — have been selected in the China-Africa MOOC Platform. Open to young Africans and local employees via the platform, these courses will support skills training, joint talent development and curriculum co-construction, boosting the sharing of vocational education resources between China and Africa.
