Led by the Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology (SZIIT), a nongovernment alliance consisting of vocational education institutions and enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, was officially inaugurated at SZIIT’s campus in Longgang District yesterday afternoon.
The voluntary alliance, known as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Industry-College Alliance for Vocational Education, was set up in response to the country’s strategic plan that advocates broader and more in-depth cooperation among mainland cities, especially Guangdong cities, Hong Kong and Macao.
“The purpose of setting up such an alliance for vocational education is to gather and share educational resources as well as to build platforms to help vocational education institutions work with enterprises in terms of teaching, learning, research and application,” said Sun Yong, president of SZIIT, who also was nominated as the first chairman of the alliance.
From the list of the alliance’s members, it can be seen that most of the vocational education institutions in Guangdong Province have been included. Some renowned enterprises, such as Huawei Technologies, are also joining the alliance.
Cooperation among the members is strongly encouraged under the principles of the alliance. According to Sun, the alliance will actively explore methods to enhance communication and coordination among the alliance members. Projects including organizations beyond the alliance will also be advocated, said Sun.
Cultivating and recruiting talents for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is believed to be one of the most important aspects in making the area a world-class economic hub, said Tang Jie, the former deputy mayor of Shenzhen and now an economics professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen.
Tang was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the inauguration ceremony yesterday. In his speech, Tang highlighted the significance of building up effective mechanisms for cultivating talents with all possible and multilateral resources from major cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
The economics professor used the other three world-renowned bay areas, namely the Tokyo Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area and New York Bay Area, as examples to point out the importance of cooperation and sharing resources.
“Not all cities should aim to become international metropolises in the bay area, because some smaller cities can find their edge in different aspects and cooperation among the cities in the bay area is crucial,” said Tang.