ILO project experience in China shared in global Skills Fair on Quality Apprenticeships

From 27 to 29 February, the global Skills Fair on Quality Apprenticeships was successfully held jointly by the ILO and ten international organization partners in Turin, Italy. This hybrid Fair is part of the ILO's Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Quality Apprenticeships Recommendation (No. 208) adopted in June 2023. It combines a physical presence at the ITCILO Campus in Turin with a virtual fair, providing a dynamic experience for over 800 participants from governments, employers’ organizations, workers’ organizations, regional organizations, development agencies and so forth. The Fair aims to promote quality apprenticeships as an effective strategy to address the future of work and exchange good practices on apprenticeships worldwide. It explores the multi-dimensional aspects of quality apprenticeships and how they intersect with different megatrends, such as technological advancements, demographic shifts, climate change, and globalization.

‘Quality Apprenticeship and Lifelong Learning in China’ project was presented during the first panel session ‘Success Stories of Quality Apprenticeships in Asia and Africa’ on the first day of the Fair. Ms. Xian GUAN, the National Project Manager from ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia shared some key factors which leads to the solid progress of the project implementation at the country level. The project was also exhibited as the only one from Asia among all exhibition booths.

Starting from 2020, with the support of J.P. Morgan, the ILO closely collaborates with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and social partners in China to promote quality apprenticeship and enhance lifelong skills development. Now the project focuses on advancing quality apprenticeship, skill anticipation and matching, skills for the green transition and core skills development. So far, over 110 institutions from eight municipalities and two sectoral leading corporations are participating in the project technical capacity building.