Tanzania sends delegation to China's world vocational education conference in Tianjin

Tanzania sent a delegation to the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference in Tianjin, China, held from 15 to 17 October 2026. Wanu Hafidh Ameir, Tanzania's Deputy Minister for Education, Science and Technology, chaired a preparatory meeting for the delegation on 15 October, Xinhua reported on 15 October. The conference opened in Tianjin on 16 October, and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attended and spoke, Xinhua reported.

Ameir said Tanzania's participation should lead to better training opportunities for young people. Tanzania wants to strengthen international cooperation in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) so that more young people gain skills and can compete in the global labour market.

She said the conference outcomes should give priority to skills development, technology and training programmes. Tanzania's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said in a statement that the conference aims to strengthen international cooperation, promote the sharing of experience and advance vocational education and training.

The conference is organised by China's Ministry of Education, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO and the Tianjin municipal government. It has been held every two years since 2022, and this is the third edition. The Ministry of Education presented the programme at a press conference in Beijing on 12 October.

China Education Daily reported, in a dispatch dated 12 October and carried by Guangming Online on 13 October, that 51 foreign guests of ministerial level or above from 41 countries would attend. The programme had an opening ceremony, a plenary session, a ministerial roundtable, parallel forums and a closing ceremony.

On 17 October, 45 countries jointly released the Framework of World Vocational and Technical Education Standards, known in Chinese as the Beijing Agreement, at the conference's closing ceremony, Xinhua reported. Xinhua describes it as the first international vocational education standard, developed under China's lead.

There were five parallel forums. Four were regional, covering Southeast and South Asia, Central Asia, Africa, and Europe and the Americas; the fifth covered the service sector. The Africa forum was to look at the skilled workers that local industries in Africa need and at new ways for vocational education to support sustainable development on the continent.

A symposium on the 10th anniversary of the Luban Workshops was among the side events. China has built 38 Luban Workshops in 32 countries, Xinhua reported on 12 October; Tianjin built 26 of them, in 24 countries.

Kenya's first Luban Workshop was launched on 14 December 2019 at Machakos University in Machakos, eastern Kenya, Xinhua reported that day. It is a partnership between Tianjin City Vocational College and Machakos University, with close collaboration from Huawei, and it focuses on cloud computing and information security. Xinhua reported in December 2024 that Kenya had two Luban Workshops; the other is at Meru University of Science and Technology.

Six teams competed in the champions' final of the World Vocational College Skills Competition, held in Tianjin on 16 October alongside the conference, Xinhua reported. This year's competition drew 9,391 teams and about 36,000 competitors from 78 countries and regions.

China Education Daily reported on 12 October that the China Vocational Education White Paper 2026 and national standards for Luban Workshops would also be released at the closing ceremony.