A college was established at Shanghai Open University on Saturday to help craftsmen with lifelong learning and professional development.

The institution was founded based on the university’s former training school for craftsmen, which had been established by the university and the Shanghai General Trade Union, to support the city’s efforts in enhancing the “Made in Shanghai” brand and building itself into a global excellent manufacturing base.

Yuan Wen, president of the university,  said the school had organized three training programs for a total of 208 artisans in the city.

Yang Hong, vice dean of the Craftsmen College, said the new institution will provide 20 courses for learners and has established on-site learning bases at 12 enterprises, covering the aerospace, large aircraft, automobile, steel and petrochemical industries.

It has employed renowned craftsmen to be lecturers and will also invite academicians and scholars to teach in the college and provide consultation for the college’s development.

The college will also build more online course resources.

Bao Qifan, first dean of the new college, said Shanghai needed to cultivate more craftsmen to support the “Made in Shanghai” brand.

 “Cultivating craftsmen should focus on stimulating their internal impetus and also provide them opportunities for recultivation, retraining and redevelopment,” he said. “Our college will explore more educational approaches for craftsmen that feature integration of education and industry so as to cultivate more great craftsmen.”

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Shanghai Daily：A college for craftsmen