Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday urged efforts to strengthen vocational education and nurture skilled workers in order to meet the needs of the country's economic and social development.
During a trip to Shanghai to research the city's work on vocational education and cultivation of skilled workers, Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that fostering more high-caliber skilled workers will provide solid support for high-quality development and high-quality life. When visiting the Shanghai Nanhu Vocational and Technical College, Li said that it is necessary to deepen the integration of industry and education as well as the cooperation between colleges and enterprises, optimize the setting of college disciplines and majors based on the needs of the society and industries' actual development and strengthen hands-on skill practice, adding that more skilled teachers are needed to innovate the models and methods of teaching.
Noting that there are ever-growing demands for elderly care, childcare and medical care, Li urged efforts to strengthen the training of skilled workers in the related fields to better meet the diverse and multi-layered needs of the people.
When visiting the WorldSkills Museum, Li encouraged the gold medal winners of the WorldSkills competition to be role models, inspiring more people to pursue success through skills and contribute to their country with their talents.
He said governments at all levels should continue to refine support policies for the cultivation of skilled workers. Efforts should also be made to improve the systems of development planning and services for skilled workers with a view to broadening their development channels and enhancing their incomes, Li added.
Chinese premier stresses strengthening vocational education, nurturing skilled workers
China has issued a document of guidelines on promoting the construction of new-type urban infrastructure.
The guidelines, made public on Thursday, was jointly approved by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, and highlights two major goals.
By 2027, significant progress should have been made in the construction of new-type urban infrastructure, providing ever increasing support for the development of resilient cities, while a number of experience and practices that can be copied and expanded should have been established.
By 2030, the construction of new-type urban infrastructure should have achieved remarkable results, to help push forward the building of a group of high-level resilient cities, improve urban safety and resilience, and ensure safer, more orderly, smarter and more efficient urban operations.
To achieve these aims, major tasks must be fulfilled in 11 aspects, including implementing the building and upgrading of intelligent municipal infrastructure, promoting the coordinated development of smart city infrastructure and intelligent connected vehicles, and developing smart residential quarters, according to the guidelines.
In addition, there are other important tasks such as raising the intelligence level of housing and building management, carrying out digital home construction, improving city information modeling platforms, and maintaining cyber and data security.
"Currently, various types of urban disasters and safety accidents are prone to occur frequently. Proposing comprehensive advancement in building resilient cities is an important measure to address the current urban disaster risks. Meanwhile, it is also an important aspect of advancing the modernization of urban governance in our country, with significant implications for implementing the holistic approach to national security and promoting the secure development of cities," said Wang Kai, president of the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Design.
Experts said that cities, which serve as the main engine of China's economic and social development and play a primary role in expanding domestic demand, provide the broadest application scenarios and innovation space for new-generation information technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and the Industrial Internet.
"The construction of new-type urban infrastructure essentially aims to construct a new-type urban infrastructure system based on digitization, networking, and intelligence. We should firmly grasp the development trends of digitization, networking, and intelligence to enhance the level of intelligence of the entire urban infrastructure, improve our monitoring capabilities, and enhance our risk prevention and control capabilities," said Liang Feng, vice chairman of the Smart City Professional Committee of the Science and Technology Committee under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
China to step up construction of new-type urban infrastructure