On July 26th local time in Nairobi, Kenya, the first training course of “Chinese language + clothing production & fashion design,” jointly organized by the Confucius Institute of Moi University and the Rift Valley Technical Training Institute, wound up successfully. The attendees of the graduation ceremony included the representatives from the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Chinese-funded textile companies in the Nairobi Export Processing Zone, Moi University, Rift Valley Technical Training Institute, and several other vocational and technical colleges.

Fan Xiuhua, the Chinese Dean of the Confucius Institute at Moi University, said that this training course is a valuable attempt at the “Chinese plus” series of courses, bridging the gap between comminity employment needs and corporate recruitment demands to facilitate rapid integration between training and employment, thereby contributing to addressing the challenges, of youth unemployment in the local area and recruitment difficulties faced by Chinese-funded enterprises.

(Fan Xiuhua delivering a speech)

This move is welcomed by the local government and the public in the community and highly recognized by Kenyan vocational training department.  The local education department sent a congratulatory letter, noting  that China is an important trading partner of Kenya, and more and more  Kenyans are learning Chinese, which will strengthen the economic and  trade exchanges between the two countries, promote Kenya's economic  development, and create more job opportunities there.

Starting on May 7th, the training course helped students to acquire basic Chinese communication skills and basic work skills in the textile and clothing industry. The GS Textile Industry Company, a local Chinese-funded enterprise, has planned to recruit a total of 48 students who have graduated from the first phase of the project, with those outstanding ones having entered the reserve talent pool for management positions.

(Granting graduation certificates to students)

The training program was launched with the concern of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, and was successfully carried out with the active promotion of Donghua University, having received the support from Shanghai Municipal Government at the same time. In the future, the Confucius Institute at Moi University, committed to benefiting the local community with a project of improved quality, will continue the training and expand the enrollment scale by relying on the disciplinary advantages of DHU in textile and clothing, using advanced teaching methods such as smart classrooms, and considering the actual needs of local textile enterprises.