Stories of High-Quality Development | Luban Workshop: Training talents in Thailand

Narrator: Nitinun Chomchuen (Thailand), Teacher, Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technical College

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative. In the same year, I received a Chinese government scholarship to study in Tianjin.

After completing my graduate studies in 2016, I decided to stay in China and joined Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technical College doing works related to the Luban Workshop project in Thailand.

In 2016, Thailand's Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Technical College and Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technical College jointly established the Luban Workshop in Thailand, China's first overseas Luban Workshop. To date, the workshop has trained more than 2,000 technical professionals in Thailand and supported more than 460 Thai students studying in China.

I am mainly responsible for the daily management of the Luban Workshop in Thailand, communication and coordination between the Chinese and Thai sides, and teaching Chinese to international students.

The most rewarding part of my job is witnessing students' growth and fostering friendship between our two countries.

The Luban Workshop in Thailand has adopted a model that combines "academic education with vocational training." All six of its current programs have passed the review and certification of the Vocational Education Commission of the Thai Ministry of Education.

Luban Workshop graduates who have studied at Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technical College as international students are highly sought after in the job market, because they master advanced technical skills and the Chinese language. Many of them choose to work in Chinese-funded companies in Thailand. Their salary in general is higher than the average level of local vocational school graduates, which directly improves the economic situations of the students and their family. This reflects how the Belt and Road Initiative enhances people's livelihoods. For instance, one of the international students, Wasan Butsadiwan, works at Haier Thailand. He admires Lu Ban's inventions and creativity. During his studies at the Luban Workshop, he gained a lot of skills and knowledge, including programmable logic controllers, robotics and computer numerical control technology. All these skills are crucial for modern industries.

The Luban Workshop has provided a Chinese solution to Thailand's technical skills training. Take the new energy vehicle industry as an example: Thailand got a late start in this field and lacked sufficient teaching experience. The second phase of Thailand's Luban Workshop established a new energy vehicle technology program. Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technical College provided substantial equipment and sponsored Thai teachers to train in China, helping them master cutting-edge knowledge and technology.

The BRI is a world-changing initiative launched by China that has also changed my life. I met my husband, Jian Peng, at the Luban Workshop. Now we are both family and colleagues.

Over the past 12 years, I have studied, worked and lived here, building my connection with the Luban Workshop. If I were to summarize my experience in one sentence, I would say: China and Thailand are family!