A display of the achievements of the “Action Plan for Realising Dreams of Further Education” is being held at the Open University of China (Guangzhou), with its first enrolment of 1,043 students having acquired undergraduate or junior-college diplomas.

To enhance worker skills, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has been active in promoting the “Action Plan for Realising Dreams of Further Education” for migrant workers. In March of 2016, it and the Ministry of Education jointly specified the requirements of the plan, which targets migrant workers throughout the country.

For more than two years, trade unions at all levels have been working with educational administrators to advance this plan in accordance with the requirements of the government and the federation. Thousands of migrant workers, along with the enterprises employing them, have benefited from it.

According to incomplete statistics, trade unions and educational authorities at all levels throughout China have financed the education of 203,000 migrant workers over the last two-plus years. It is expected that 1.5 million migrant workers will have received such funding by the year 2020.

From Migrant Workers to Students of Famous Universities

As a “second generation farmer”, Wu Deqin never dreamed that he would move from being a migrant worker to a graduate of a famous university.

After graduating from technical school, Wu Deqin followed the tide of migrant workers to Guangzhou, and his interest in automobiles led him to find work at the Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor Company. But he still longed to advance his education.

In 2013, Wu Deqin learned that the Guangdong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions had initiated the plan, and that he could receive funding through his company trade union for online studies that would allow him to continue working. He signed up at once.

For a migrant worker, outside funding is essential to attending university. Wu Deqin signed up to study Administrative Management online in the Continuing Education School of the South China University of Technology and Beijing University, and gained university diplomas in his spare time. His household registration was also transferred to Guangzhou.

Inspired by him, 4 or 5 of his fellow workers signed up for the junior-college or postgraduate programmes of the Open University of China (OUC). Their group was awarded the IGA Gold Prize and Continuous Improvement Award by the company, and Wu himself was named “Outstanding Communist Youth League Member of Guangzhou City”.
“The enterprise has given us strong support, and we can get funding from the trade union and awards from the company if we sign up to study in the factory. Online learning is especially effective, since we don’t have to go anywhere, and even the final examination can take place within the factory. It is very convenient for us, since we’re located dozens of miles from the city,” said Wu Deqin. 70 percent of his tuition has come from the trade union, company, and other sources, leaving him less than 3000 yuan out-of-pocket.

Implementation of the Plan

With more and more migrant workers flowing to big cities, and the developed coastal cities in particular, helping them enhance their skills, develop their careers, and become integrated into the cities has become a major concern of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. The plan is a major step toward achieving these goals.
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It aims to give equal priority to degree and non-degree continuing education, integrate industry and education, establish cooperation between colleges and enterprises, and allow qualified migrant workers who require skills enhancement to study at university while retaining their jobs. The keys have been to establish a strong connection between teaching contents and work requirements, and an effective teaching approach that blends online instruction with face-to-face tutorials.

The great efforts of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and the Ministry of Education have allowed these requirements to be met.

Open selection combining merit-based enrolment and recommendations from enterprises has been established, with participating universities and colleges, and their curricula, determined by local needs and sources of funding for both degree and non-degree continuing education.

Universities and enterprises are collaborating in course development, ensuring that it is linked with industrial demand, job qualifications, professional standards, and production processes. Emphasis is put on teaching practical skills.

They are also collaborating on work-study training, with both providing instructors, and universities and colleges encouraged to develop online educational resources suited to the needs of migrant workers and to offer teaching and support services via mobile device.

The participating universities and colleges will monitor teaching quality and student satisfaction through data analysis, with migrant workers and their employers participating as well.

The implementation of the plan has led to an outpouring of enthusiasm from both migrant workers in need of training and enterprises in need of skilled workers.

Helping More Migrant Workers Gain Further Education

The plan is leading to more and more migrant workers who belong to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions receiving training.

According to a spokesperson for the federation, this plan meets the needs of enterprises for better-skilled workers, and the desire of workers for a better life.

The Publicity and Education Department of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and the Department of Vocational and Adult Education with the Ministry of Education have done a great deal to secure policy and funding support over the past two-plus years. For example, the federation and the Ministry of Finance conducted a joint investigation into increasing funding for the education of workers, and have urged that enterprises be allowed to deduct more of their contributions to worker education from their taxable incomes (up to 8% instead of up to 2.5%). The federation is communicating with the Ministry of Finance to revise the terms of educational funding and for special support.

Another problem being dealt with is that of giving workers time for their studies. In Jiangsu Province, an online-education platform called “Jiangsu Trade Union School” has been set up; in Anhui Province, teaching resources suitable to migrant workers have been made available online; and in Guangdong Province, the Guangdong Worker-Education Network has been established to enable learning on mobile devices. The study center of the OUC Guangzhou Experimental School offers classes within enterprises, both online and offline, an approach that has become very popular with both enterprises and workers, enhancing the cohesion of the former and the skills of the latter.

According to a spokesperson for the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, features of the plan such as equal emphasis on degree and non-degree education, cooperation between universities and enterprises, and combining work and studies for qualified migrant workers with gaps in their education has boosted their skills and happiness, and helped with economic and industrial development at the same time.

The federation and the Ministry of Education intend to offer financial assistance to 1.5 million migrant workers by 2020, enabling them to study free of charge.
The plan has become an important way for the federation to enhance worker skills and improve their lives.

By Li Changyu, People’s Daily