Entrusted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the China-SCO Center for Scientific, Technical and Innovative Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as the China-SCO Sci-Tech Innovation Cooperation Center) facilitated matchmaking and negotiations between Satbayev University (formerly Kazakh National Technical University) and Shandong University of Engineering and Vocational Technology. The two institutions concluded an agreement to jointly build Kazakhstan’s Ban·Mo Academy, marking the first Ban·Mo Academy project signed between China and Kazakhstan.
The Ban·Mo Academy derives its name from the craftsmanship spirit of Lu Ban and the innovative thinking of Mozi. It is a distinctive brand for international innovative cooperation in vocational education developed by Shandong Province. Centered on “vocational skills plus Chinese language instruction”, the Academy builds an overseas local training system for clusters of high-skilled talents, which aligns closely with Kazakhstan’s development priorities.
Both signatories boast a solid foundation for innovation cooperation. Satbayev University is Kazakhstan’s oldest and leading national research university of technology. Focusing on engineering fields including energy, mechanical engineering and green technologies, it engages in talent cultivation and applied research through deep collaboration with major domestic industrial enterprises. Shandong University of Engineering and Vocational Technology is among China’s first cohort of undergraduate-level vocational universities. It has long advanced the integration of industry and education, and built competitive specialty clusters covering intelligent manufacturing, new energy vehicles and prefabricated construction industrialization. The university has established internship and training platforms jointly with more than 300 industrial enterprises, and previously set up Ban·Mo Academies in Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The newly signed project concentrates on the new energy machinery industry. To be implemented under a “university-academia-industry enterprise” framework, it will adopt the dual vocational education system and attract high-quality sci-tech innovation enterprises to participate, reinforcing industry-university-research cooperation in talent training and industrial technology R&D. This model tightly links talent development with real industrial technological demands and applied technology research. While delivering technical and skills training, it also creates a platform for technology transfer and local industrial upgrading, enriching the practical forms of China-Kazakhstan cooperation in sci-tech innovation and industrial advancement. In the next phase, the China-SCO Sci-Tech Innovation Cooperation Center and a Sino-Kazakh joint venture automobile manufacturer will join the partnership. A project roadmap will be formulated to push the initiative into practical implementation.
Going forward, leveraging its role as a high-level international sci-tech innovation cooperation platform, the China-SCO Sci-Tech Innovation Cooperation Center will continue to advance pragmatic ties with SCO member states in scientific and technological innovation, technology transfer and vocational education. It will promote multi-stakeholder coordination among governments, universities and industrial enterprises. Taking the exchange of technical and skilled talents as a key lever for collaborative innovation, the Center will translate outcomes of educational cooperation into tangible driving forces for industrial upgrading of SCO member states, and provide more robust technological and talent support for high-quality economic, trade and industrial development across the SCO region.
Editor: Geng Tingting/ Wang Yulin
