In the past two years, the Ethiopian Luban Workshop has promoted China-Africa cooperation and boosted people-to-people exchanges, as a high-level vocational education cooperation platform.

The workshop, launched by the Chinese Tianjin University of Technology and Education and the Ethiopian Technical University (ETU) in April 2021, aims to help Ethiopian youths improve their technical skills in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Tamiru, technical assistant at Ethiopian Luban Workshop [Photo/cctv.com]

Tamiru, whose Chinese name is Guan Shanhai, graduated from Addis Ababa University, majoring in electrical and mechanical engineering. He has come to the Ethiopian Luban workshop to study in his spare time soon after its establishment. This March, he became a full-time technical assistant there.

"In college, we only learn about the theoretical part. But in the workshop, we can really get started with the practice. Students can enter related industries later and apply the knowledge they acquired. No other teaching institution in Ethiopia provides such technical conditions," said Tamiru.

"I'm really excited to be able to help students and teach them in the local language," he added.

Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, many Chinese teachers were unable to travel to Ethiopia. Some Ethiopian teachers, including Johannas, then came to China for advanced studies of "Industry 4.0 technology".

In September 2021, Johannas participated in the World Robot Contest Championship in Beijing and won third place with his teammates. "We experienced many types of robots during the competition," said Johannas. "I was enjoying this competition very much."

Teshale Berecha, minister of Labour and Skills Development of Ethiopia  [Photo/cctv.com]

Teshale Berecha, minister of Labour and Skills Development of Ethiopia, said in an interview that technology transfer and knowledge sharing between China and Ethiopia have brought Ethiopia various training bases and facilities. "We need to further deepen this kind of cooperation in more fields so as to benefit more people."