On October 30-31, 2018, the 4th U.S.-China State and Provincial Education Leaders Dialogue, jointly organized by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of China and the U.S. Department of Education, was held in Washington D. C. as the follow up to the consensus reached at the first round of the China-U.S. Social and Cultural Dialogue held in 2017. The meeting marked the first high-level intergovernmental dialogue dedicated to the theme of “vocational education and training” between the two countries. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Scott Stump, Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education and WANG Jiping, Director general of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education delivered key-note speeches. The meeting was co-chaired by YANG Xinyu, Minister-Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in the US and Maureen A. McLaughlin, Senior Advisor &Director of International Affairs under the U.S. Department of Education.
DeVos said that China was an important partner and the U.S.-China cooperation based on mutual respect and shared interests would benefit both peoples. She concluded by saying that she looked forward to continuing to support the meaningful collaboration, and new friendships blossoming from people to people exchanges between the two nations. Wang conveyed the Chinese Minister of Education CHEN Baosheng's gratitude to the US for their cooperation, the importance that the minister attached to this dialogue, as well as his expectation of China-U.S. cooperation in vocational education. He said that vocational education played a key role in a country’s economic and social development. Noting that both nations needed to develop vocational education further, Mr.Wang expressed his wish for China and the US to strengthen intergovernmental policy dialogues, information exchanges between industries, and school-to-school cooperation,and urged both sides to seize the opportunity to write a new chapter in vocational education cooperation.
The meeting was attended by over 70 representatives of provincial/state education authorities, vocational education institutions and research organizations, as well as businesses from both countries. Participants exchanged views on policy initiatives and teaching practices in vocational education, and explored means for more effective cooperation at sub-national levels. Both sides recognized the opportunities and challenges in vocational education and identified great potential for bilateral cooperation in university-business connection, teacher training, and student exchanges.
On the evening of October 31, Minister LI Kexin of the Chinese Embassy to the United States hosted a dinner party for participants to the meeting. He expressed his support for China-U.S. cooperation in vocational education and people-to-people communication, as well as his wish for the partnership to benefit both peoples and the healthy development of bilateral relations.During the meeting, participants visited two local vocational institutes.
(Department of TVET Programs and Professional Training)