Li Yan (L front), president of the Tianjin City Vocational College, and Joyce Agalo (R front), deputy vice chancellor of Machakos University, sign a deal in Machakos, Kenya, Oct. 15, 2019. Machakos University in eastern Kenya on Tuesday signed a deal with the Tianjin City Vocational College to host Luban workshop. (Photo by Ronald Njoroge/Xinhua)

MACHAKOS, Kenya, Oct.15 (Xinhua) -- Machakos University in eastern Kenya on Tuesday signed a deal with the Tianjin City Vocational College to host Luban workshop.

Joyce Agalo, deputy vice chancellor, Machakos University told Xinhua that the workshop will support technological training for youth as well as promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

"I greatly appreciate that you have chosen to build a partnership with Machakos University and more so to have us host one of the ten Luban workshops to be built in Africa," Agalo said.

The workshop is an initiative named after Lu Ban, an ancient Chinese architect and seeks to promote cooperation between Chinese vocational training institutes and the rest of the world.

China offered to cooperate with the African government to open ten Luban workshops in the continent at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit in 2018.

Agalo said that the workshop is set to be launched in mid-December with equipment from Huawei and will be the first in east Africa.

She observed that looking at the success stories in Thailand, Djibouti and Egypt, the workshop has the potential to boost Kenya's overall development and competitiveness through the training of the country's youth to better serve development projects across the country, as well as provide well-trained talents to the country.

Li Yan, president of the Tianjin City Vocational College said that the focus of the Luban workshops is to enhance cultural exchange and understanding among the global community through the international collaborations of vocational training institutes.

Li said that the workshops operate with a curriculum design that is supported by the Tianjin City Vocational College as well as the Chinese education system.

She added that the workshop's success is also based on close cooperation with the industry to ensure that its graduates have the skills required in the job market.