On 22 December 2020, the “Malaysia-China (Shandong) Education Cooperation Dialogue” was held in Dezhou City of Shandong Province under the guidance of Shandong Provincial Department of Education, the Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government and the Vocational and Technical Education and Training Department of Malaysian Ministry of Education. It was co-organised by the Foreign Affairs Office of Dezhou Municipal People’s Government and Dezhou College.

Mr. Chen Dehai, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the event upon invitation. Mr. Xing Shunfeng, Chief Inspector of Shandong Provincial Education Department, Mr. Sun Yebao, Deputy Director-General of Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Province, Mdm. Norhana Binti Mustafa, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Vocational Education of Malaysian Ministry of Education, Mr. Zhao Shengcun, President of Dezhou College, and representatives of higher vocational colleges of China and Malaysia participated in the activity either online or offline.

Chen Dehai pointed out that vocational education could become a new source of growth for education exchanges and cooperation between Shandong and Malaysia. The two sides should deepen education exchanges and cooperation in an innovative manner that meet the international standard. It is hoped that both sides would adopt a forward-thinking approach and integrate resources to provide greater intellectual support for opening-up and high-quality development.

Xing Shunfeng encouraged universities of both sides to take this event as an opportunity to make good use of the platform of Shandong ASEAN Research Institute to set up a regular exchange mechanism.

Sun Yebao said that the event wouldstart a new chapter for educational exchanges between Shandong Province and Malaysia, and the establishment of Malaysia-China (Shandong) Education Alliance would build a bridge and platform for exchanges, mutual learning and win-win cooperation between universities from the two countries. He hopedthat university representatives from both sides would make full use of this occasion to strengthen communication and explore diverse ways of interaction, so as to reap early harvests of cooperation.

Norhana Binti Mustafa stated that Malaysiahopes to carry out cooperation with Shandong in software technology, e-commerce, automobiles, agriculture and other fields. She also expressed hope to see more opportunities for vocational school students in Malaysia to improve their abilities, learn more about high-end technologies and equipment, and experience Shandong culture.

Zhao Shengcun said that Dezhou College would seek to forge a path forward in running an international school and share the experience and achievements of China-Malaysian cooperative education.

During the meeting, leaders of universities and vocational colleges in Shandong and Malaysia shared their views on cooperative development plans, discussed opportunities and development of education cooperation, and explored mechanism and ways of teacher-and-student exchanges. They also shared the experiences and achievements of running universities in China and Malaysia for the benefit of each other to understand the development of higher education on the other side, and touched upon common problems faced by both sides. Such discussions have laid a good foundation for their future cooperation.

More than 200 representatives from 61 Shandong universitiesand 35 Malaysian universities attended the meeting online.During the event, Secretary-General Chen Dehai also met with Mr. Che Bin, Secretary of the Dezhou College Party Committee, and Mr. Zhao Shengcun, President of Dezhou College.