ICDL Asia signed an MoU with the National Center of Educational Technology (NCET), under Ministry of Education, to collaborate in improving digital literacy level of vocational school teachers and students in China in December 2018. A total of 279 vocational schools have successfully applied to join the initiative and over 600 teachers were trained on the ICDL Teachers Training programme.
To implement the new vocational education reform policy announced by Chinese Ministry of Education, NCET held a conference at Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology in April 2019, to launch the new project – Upskilling and Certifying the Digital Skills of Chinese Vocational College Students.
Mr Han Jun, Deputy Chief Director of NCET, highlighted that to enhance employability of the students, it is important for vocational colleges to look for certification programmes that are recognised by the industry. That is why NCET would recommend ICDL programme as the first solution for vocational colleges in China – it is skills-based, highly practical, and recognised in the world as the global digital skills standard. Representatives of the Nanjing Education Bureau and Nanjing Vocational College of Finance and Economics also shared their experiences with ICDL, including participating in the ICDL Asia Digital Challenge.
The conference was attended by over 500 participants from approximately 290 vocational colleges from around China.
In June 2019, NCET confirmed the first batch of 279 colleges to begin the ICDL certification programme. Preceding this, more than 600 teachers participated in the ICDL Teachers Training programme in July-August 2019. The ICDL Teachers Training programme includes 8 ICDL modules in total, which are ICDL Advanced Word Processing, Advanced Spreadsheets, Advanced Presentation, 3D Design, IT Security, Project Planning, Digital Marketing, and ICT in Education. In all the 6 batches of the ICDL Teachers Training programme, leaders from NCET attended the opening ceremonies and delivered speeches, highlighting vocational education reform and accentuate the importance of digital literacy in China today.
The first batch of colleges was scheduled to start on ICDL certification programme by the end of 2019.
Impressed by the commitment from Chinese government and positive feedback from the vocational colleges, Mr Damien O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of ICDL Foundation commented, “ICDL is truly a global standard and this is achieved by deep implementation locally in every country and market. We now started bringing ICDL into China as a foreign standard, but we are committed to building the programme as locally recognised as possible. We are certainly looking forward to China joining the ICDL global community and start contributing the unique Chinese experience to the global standard as well.”
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