As witnessed by Chinese and Portuguese officials, Tianjin Vocational College of Mechanics and Electricity (TVCME) and the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal signed an agreement on the creation of the Portugal Luban Workshop at a ceremony held on Dec  5, 2018.

The Luban Workshop is an international vocational education brand launched and implemented by Tianjin under the guidance of Chinese Ministry of Education to offer international students both diploma and non-degree courses. Foreign teachers will receive professional training in accordance with Chinese standards before giving classes to local students.

As the first Luban Workshop built on the European continent, it was committed to fostering talents in the fields of electrical automation and industrial robot.

Josa Lukkas, a leading professor in automation disciplines at the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, was deeply impressed with state-of-the-art hardware and technology when he visited the TVCME for the first time in 2018.

During an interview, a student from the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal said that the Luban Workshop had helped him master various robots and visual equipment and independently develop an industrial telecommunication project in the past three years.

In addition to providing advanced training facilities, Chinese teachers have used many methods, including the participation of competitions, to guide Portuguese students to acquire more knowledge and technical skills.

With their concerted efforts, students from the TVCME and the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal won a bronze medal for their outstanding performance in the assembly and test of a smart production line at the First World Vocational College Skills Competition, which was held in Tianjin in August 2022.

During the past four years, the Portugal Luban Workshop has fostered several hundreds of talents and many people have worked for leading global firms.

Angela Lemos, president of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, said that the Luban Workshop has become an eye-catching brand and received the visit of many counterparts from Germany, Finland and Brazil.