China, People's Republic of : Sharing ADB's Operational Knowledge in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the PRC with CAREC Member Countries

Education / Technical and vocational education and training

Strategy 2030 sets the course for ADB to respond to the region's changing development needs. Under Strategy 2030, ADB will sustain its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and will increasingly emphasize human development and social inclusion to tackle the non-income dimensions of poverty. Strategy 2030 will expand ADB's support for education, health care, and social protection programs. In education, ADB will help its developing member countries (DMCs) to enhance the employability and job readiness of graduates. ADB will also support lifelong learning and training opportunities.

ADB has supported the education and training sectors in the People's Republic of China (PRC) for over 20 years. At the end of 2018, 32 loans, grants, and technical assistance projects totaling $564.35 million have been provided, primarily through TVET programs in poverty-stricken areas of Guizhou, Ningxia, and Guangxi. The PRC's national and provincial policy directives comprehensively articulate TVET as a tool for tackling economic and social development needs. Responding to these needs, ADB's TVET projects have used innovative approaches, including developing competency-based curricula that meet the needs of occupations; trained vocational instructors and teachers; promoted publicprivate partnerships and institutional reforms; modernized and upgraded teaching and learning facilities; reduced dropouts through financial assistance to students from poor families; and supported regional cooperation by promoting partnership agreements between TVET institutions and enterprises in the PRC and other countries.

The TVET sector is less developed in member countries of Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program because of three noteworthy challenges: mismatches between curricula in TVET programs and the skills required by employers; lack or absence of a national qualification system; and inadequate human and financial resources. In the first challenge, there is an obvious skills mismatch between materials being taught in TVET programs and their relevance to employers. Most course structures and contents are outdated and mostly theoretical rather than practical. TVET providers lack industry experience and the skills needed to manage programs with employers and professional associations. In the second challenge, most CAREC member countries have only recently started to develop a national qualification system. This is a comprehensive system for classifying and registering national qualifications. Without establishing national standards for qualifications, it will be difficult to promote education and training provisions, strengthen access to learning, and support lifelong learning. The development of a unified national qualification system is also varied in CAREC member countries. The lack of human and financial resources, the third challenge, has contributed to low-quality TVET programs. Teachers are not properly trained, and in-service teacher training is almost nonexistent. Most TVET institutions have obsolete and inadequate equipment and information systems, dilapidated school buildings, and poorly maintained dormitories. Coupled with outdated curricula, these factors have contributed to the difficulty in attracting students, and an unfavorable perception of TVET. TVET in CAREC member countries, has great potential to promote the productive participation of women in the labor market. But it is still characterized by gender inequalities and stereotyping that reinforce the gender division of labor in occupational segregation, impeding women from entering nontraditional and higher income and skilled professions.

Promoting cooperation in education and skills development is one of the operational priorities under CAREC 2030, which seeks to expand the horizons of economic cooperation in the region by connecting people, projects, and policies for shared and sustainable development. Improved cross-border labor mobility will lead to possible enhanced TVET skills and cross-border labor migration in the CAREC region. In 2019, the CAREC Secretariat completed a scoping studyEnhancing Regional Cooperation in Education and Skills under CARECto kick off activities in this area. The study seeks to identify regional initiatives for enhancing and expanding cooperation among member countries on skills development and higher education. A regional education workshop was held in Bishkek on 2728 March 2019 to deliberate the study's initial findings, and agree on a way forward to strengthen regional cooperation in higher education and develop TVET and skills by setting up a group of experts to advance the regional agenda.

During the 2018 country programming mission, the government of the PRC and ADB agreed to provide a KSTA as a platform for gathering and sharing ADB's operational knowledge and policy lessons in the PRC with other member countries of the CAREC program. As consulted with the government, the proposed TA will focus on distilling ADB's operational knowledge in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), where ADB has supported the PRC through lending and TA projects for over 20 years. The experiences of other development partners and the PRC's domestic policy interventions and innovations on TVET will also be reviewed and examined. This is in line with CAREC 2030, the CAREC program's new strategy, that has human development, inclusive of TVET, as one of five priority areas.

The proposed TA is included in the current COBP, 20192021. It is aligned with the strategic priorities of ADB's Country Partnership Strategy (20162020) with the PRC.

Knowledge sharing between the PRC and other CAREC member countries enhanced; quality of policies and practices in TVET in the PRC and other CAREC member countries improved

Effectiveness of new ideas and practices in TVET in the PRC and other CAREC member countries strengthened

Policy experiences and lessons learnt from the PRC's TVET operations and recommendations for other CAREC member countries identified

Capacity of key TVET stakeholders in CAREC member countries enhanced