The Belt and Road Initiative and Luban Workshop Forum were held in Tianjin on Aug 20. Participants exchanged views on concepts, actions, development models, and forms of Luban Workshop.

The forum is a parallel event of the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference that opened in the same city Aug 19 to 20.

Mayuree Sriraboot, head of the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Technical College, delivers a speech via video link at theforum. [Photo/tjyun.com]

Mayuree Sriraboot, head of the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Technical College, said that the Luban Workshop in Thailand is the first Luban Workshop built in the world by the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Technical College and the Tianjin Bohai Vocational and Technical College. 

TBVTC has provided great support in the construction of the Luban Workshop, including offering the teaching assistance for the first and second construction phases, said Mayuree. With the help of Chinese teachers, Thai students have mastered advanced manufacturing technology, and teachers learned the EPIP teaching model.

On March 8, 2016, the Thailand Luban Workshop was put into operation, marking an important start for vocational education cooperation between the two countries.

Two years later, the Railway Center of the workshop was rolled out after partnering with Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College. Eight other Thai vocational colleges, added two new majors namely, high-speed railway maintenance technologies and the automatic control of railway signals.  

To facilitate Thailand's high-speed railway construction project, the Railway Center of the workshop, the third construction phase, was rolled out in 2018. It added two new majors – namely, high-speed railway maintenance technologies and the automatic control of railway signals. The move was aimed to cultivate high-speed railway professional and technical talents for Thailand.

Over the years, the Thailand Luban Workshop has trained 1,125 people for academic education, and more than 8,000 teachers and students for skills training and exchanges. The students have won a number of awards and prizes in Thailand's vocational and technical competitions.

To date, it has recruited more than 200 Thai students, and 66 of them graduated pursuing the undergraduate degrees and the rest are fully employed.