Bangladesh to follow China’s industry-academia model

Bangladesh plans to adopt China’s strong industry-academia linkage model to strengthen technical education and develop skilled human resources, Education Minister Dr ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon said on Monday.
“During our China visit, we saw that their industry-academia linkage is very strong. We also want to follow that model,” he said at a press conference at the Secretariat.
The minister said expatriate Bangladeshis are a key driving force of the economy, making it important to equip workers with technical and vocational skills.
“We are emphasising technical education to make them more skilled. We are working with the highest priority on transforming the country’s population into skilled human resources,” he said.
He said the government wants stronger links between educational institutions and industries so that technical education can meet job-market demands.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Education and Primary and Mass Education Adviser Mahdi Amin said an international platform, the China-Bangladesh Industry and Education Integration International Service Centre, was formally inaugurated during the visit.
“The China-Bangladesh Vocational Teacher Training Centre, Bangladesh Vocational Education Research Centre, and Bangladesh ‘Chinese Language Plus Skill Development’ Cooperation Centre platforms have been launched,” he said.
Mahdi said the initiatives would create opportunities for skilled Bangladeshi workers proficient in Mandarin to work on Chinese projects and in institutions operating in Bangladesh.
“If we can equip our students with proficiency in Chinese, they will get priority in the international job market, opening up vast new avenues of employment for the country,” he said.