Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY) together with the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, the ASEAN-China Center and the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of Najing Vocational University of Industry and Technology (NJUIT) have successfully organized the "Chinese + Vocational Skills: training for local teachers in Indonesia 2022 activity ". This collaborative event started from March 14 to 23, 2022. This training activity lasted 40 hours of meetings with 660 teachers participating. Vice-Rector for Planning and Cooperation of UNY Prof. Siswantoyo said this training was to improve the quality of human resources in the form of vocational education lectures. "We successfully learned various things related to China, especially e-commerce computer network technology and logistics management to help our vocational teachers," he said. The average attendance of participants in this training was 89%. Siswantoyo also opens up opportunities for collaboration with teacher institutions in other educational activity schemes in the future.
Education and Culture Attache of the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing Yaya Sutarya said this activity was essential to increase the skill of Indonesian teachers. "We will extend the collaboration with Nanjing Vocational University and UNY as partners for this activity," said Yaya Sutarya. Mandarin is popular for some Indonesians and will become one of Indonesia's most widely used foreign languages . By learning Mandarin, people can understand the culture and enhance current developments in China. Learning a language can also increase the contribution of development in Indonesia, especially its bilateral relations. Yaya invites the teachers to share their knowledge with their colleagues around them. According to him, for the past thirty years, China and ASEAN have worked together to build substantial and mutually beneficial cooperation as strategic partners that are also beneficial for the Indonesian nation.
President of Nanjing University of Industry and Technology, Dr. Xie Yonghua is grateful for the success of this training as a form of cooperation between the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, the ASEAN-China Center, and the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of Nanjing Vocational University of Industry and Technology (NJUIT). “Participants learn Chinese teaching materials and vocational skills modules which are very popular among participants. The textbooks are also exciting with lots of pictures and videos to help participants experience traditional Chinese culture,” said Xie Yonghua. As much as possible, as a university that has been around for 104 years and the first public vocational university in China, it also promotes Chinese education and is a global development activity. Furthermore, NJUIT strengthens professionalism and social service functions and demonstrates the ability to provide academic support for cooperation and exchanges between China and Indonesia.
The representative of the teacher who attended the training, Irma Suryani, said that she got new vocabulary in this training. The material obtained includes equipment, processes, and conversations. "I can speak Mandarin very well," said Irma. The teaching method applied is exciting with questions, competitions, knowledge sharing through video media, textbooks with attractive appearances, and concise language.