Leaders of NJCIT Invited to Deliver Academic Speeches at Theme Forum of 2020 Annual Conference of Chinese Society for Technical and Vocational Education

On January 31, 2021, the 2020 Annual Conference of the Chinese Society for Technical and Vocational Education (CSTVE) was held online and offline with the theme Building a New Development Pattern: Enhancing the Adaptability of Modern Vocational Education. Attendees included Sun Yao, Vice Minister of Education; Lu Xin, President of CSTVE and former Vice Minister of Education; Pan Jianwei, Wang Enge, Tang Tao, Zhao Yuliang, Huang Wei, Xue Qikun, Wang Yanxin, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Ni Guangnan, Chen Jie, Zhang Ping and Wang Fuming, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Wang Yiming, former Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council. Attendees of the conference also included related personnel from relevant departments, bureaus and directly affiliated institutions of the Ministry of Education, some provincial departments of education, China Academy of Industrial Internet, Chinese Institute of Electronics, iFlytek Co., Ltd, Sany Group, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, 360 Security Technology Inc. and so on. More than 10,000 representatives from educational administrative departments, colleges and universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises from different industries across the country attended the meeting online. Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology (NJCIT) set up a special venue for this video meeting and organized relevant personnel to attend online.

There were four sub-forums for the academic discussion of the conference which covered four themes: 1) Industrial Internet: Talent Demand and Talent Cultivation, 2) Artificial Intelligence: New Patterns and New Careers, 3) Power of Education and Technology: Integrated Development of High-Quality Vocational Education, and 4) The Whole Picture Revival: The Historical Role of Modern Vocational Education. More than 60 experts and scholars made wonderful speeches in different fields, demonstrating the new progress made in the innovation and development of vocational education and the new trends for the next stage. Wang Danzhong, Secretary of the CPC Committee of NJCIT, and Tian Min, President of NJCIT, were both invited to give academic presentations at the theme forum.

Secretary Wang Danzhong delivered a report named Talent Cultivation Model in Vocational Education: Main Reason, Key Points of Implementation and Difficulties of Reform in the third forum themed on Power of Education and Technology: Integrated Development of High-Quality Vocational Education. He analyzed the policy requirements and direction of talent cultivation in China's vocational education based on the development of the modern vocational education system in Jiangsu and NJCIT's talent developing patterns including Three-year Secondary Vocational School Education Plus Three-year Junior College Education Program, Three-year Higher Vocational College Education Plus Two-year Undergraduate Education Program and Four-year Higher Vocational College Education Plus Zero Undergraduate Education Program. He proposed that the fundamental reason for fostering talent in the vocational education system is that the upgrading of industries calls for high-end and versatile technical talents. The key points of implementation lie in the design of integrated training programs and collaborative training activities and the difficulties of reform come from the agreement of the training orientation, the clarification of the training boundary and the improvement of teaching abilities.

President Tian Min made a speech titled The Construction and Talent Cultivation of New Majors of Artificial Intelligence in vocational schools in the second theme forum Artificial Intelligence: New Patterns and New Careers. He systematically elaborated on the development of the AI industry and its demand for application-oriented talent. He also introduced the College's practice of developing new majors of AI technology and building AI professional groups and platforms that integrate enterprises with vocational schools. The characteristic schooling idea of empowering each professional group with AI and creating AI-plus professional groups was explained as well.

Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the conference, based on the new development stage, has implemented the new development concept with a focus on the new development pattern. Centering on the 14th Five-year Plan and the long-range objectives through the year 2035, attendees at the meeting extensively discussed the development of a high-quality vocational education system that adapts to the new development pattern. The speeches of the two leaders in the College also showed the school's in-depth thinking and solid practice in achieving the Double High-level Plan and high-quality vocational education from different angles attracting wide attention from the participants.

Text by Xu Yinli  Photo by Hu Feng and Zhang Zhiwei