Students examine railway models at Africa's first Luban Workshop founded by Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College and Tianjin First Commercial School. [Photo/China daily]

Education authorities from North Africa's Egypt and North China's Tianjin signed cooperation agreements on March 31 in Cairo to build a Luban Workshop and promotion center in the Egyptian capital, following the opening of the first Luban Workshop in Djibouti.

Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technical College and Tianjin Transportation Technical College will join hands to set up a workshop at Ain Shams University as well as a technology promotion center at the Advanced Technical School for Maintenance Technology, according to the agreements.

The two Tianjin colleges will provide support in fields such as faculty, technology and equipment, as well as provide teaching facilities for the university and school.

They will offer three programs for technical training, including numeral controlled equipment application and maintenance, photovoltaic power generation technology and application, automobile application and maintenance technology and courses on numerical technologies, opening gradually in accordance with local demand.

Wang Juan, deputy director of the International Exchange Center under the Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technology College, said, “The establishment of a new workshop and center will meet the demands of Egypt's education reforms.”

A Chinese teacher tutors students at a railway operation laboratory at the Luban Workshop in Djibouti.[Photo/China daily]

The first Luban Workshop opened in late March in Djibouti City, capital of Djibouti, the nation in the Horn of Africa.

The workshop, located at Djibouti Industrial and Commercial School, was created by China Civil Engineering Construction Group and will be supported academically by Tianjin First Commercial School and Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College.

It is among the 10 Luban Workshops set to open in Africa to provide vocational training to African youth under an initiative launched by China in collaboration with African countries during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Yu Zhongwu, president of Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College, said the college will support the teaching of railway operation and management, and railway engineering, two new majors added to the Djibouti Industrial and Commercial School.

Tianjin First Commercial School  will help with the school's courses in international trade and logistics, said Guo Wei, the college president.

Covering 1,000 square meters, the newly built teaching area has well-established facilities. The workshop also has an area at the Nagad Railway Station and the Djibouti Free Trade Area for students to take part in practical programs.

The workshop will offer diplomas to students and work closely with companies.

"Djibouti aims to become a regional shipping and commercial center in Africa by 2035 and our railway-related major will meet the demand for the country's targets," Yu said.

Besides the newly opened workshop, seven other Luban Workshops have opened across the globe since 2016.

They were initiated by leading vocational colleges and schools in Tianjin and a total of 10 workshops will be set up in Africa in two years, according to Lyu Jingquan, deputy head of the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission.

The projects are expected to support technological training for African youth and promote youth innovation and entrepreneurship.

China Civil Engineering Construction Group built Djibouti's first modern railway, a network equipped with advanced electric technologies from China that has connected Ethiopia and Djibouti since it went into service in 2016.