TIANJIN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- At the final of the 2026 World Vocational College Skills Competition, a team from Zambia's Kafue Gorge Training School and Zhejiang Tongji Vocational College of Science and Technology applied artificial intelligence to inspect gold coils in cochlear implants, winning third place.
The competition featured 43 tracks including artificial intelligence and next-generation information technology, with overseas participation at a record high. A new Oceania division joined those in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa and Europe, and the finals drew 9,391 teams and 36,000 contestants from 78 countries and regions across five continents.
The competition is a microcosm of China's vocational education going global. China has built the world's largest vocational education system and is working with more and more countries to train skilled talent and share its practices and experience.
The White Paper on China's Vocational Education, released in Tianjin on Oct. 17, shows that more than 300 Chinese vocational schools have carried out over 500 vocational education cooperation projects in more than 80 countries and regions.
From the banks of Thailand's Chao Phraya River to the edge of Egypt's deserts, from training centers in Kazakhstan to engineering classrooms in Portugal, more countries want to learn from China's vocational education experience.
In March, 14 students from Italy's Jobs Academy came to Tianjin Modern Vocational Technology College to study drone regulations, equipment structure, basic flight, emergency rescue and geographic surveying.
"Italy has deep foundations in vocational education, while China leads the world in drone applications and the low-altitude economy," said Maria Grazia Buratti, head of international cooperation at Jobs Academy, who hopes cooperation will continue.
"The biggest attraction of Chinese vocational education is our integration of industry and education, oriented toward industry and serving employment," said Zhang Ying, director of international exchange at Tianjin Modern Vocational Technology College. "China has a vast industrial base, a complete system of specialties and strong policy support, and we align skills training with the real economy."
Luban Workshops are a national calling card. In 2016, Tianjin built China's first overseas Luban Workshop in Thailand. According to the Ministry of Education, China has built 38 Luban Workshops in 32 countries, training more than 30,000 degree students and over 160,000 non-degree trainees.
