Suzhou promotes local recognition of international vocational qualifications

2022-03-29 17:22:00

Suzhou, a major export hub in East China’s Jiangsu Province, has expanded a pilot program to align the international vocational qualifications with domestic certificates in support of the career growth of foreign talent in the city.

Foreigners often face the difficulties to have their overseas qualifications properly recognized in China, which can affect their personal promotion or business development.

Suzhou is home to 14,000 foreigners and some 300,000 professionals who have completed studies abroad. The initiative, the first in China, has been seen as a pioneering practice to further open up and attract top talent.

Chen Hongwei, vice president of Harbour BioMed, said the certificate of the American Board of Toxicology (ABT), widely employed by the industry in the US, has enabled him to be recognized as a medical engineer in China, a title that has also supported his application for the city’s talent program.

Chen also said he spent about one year to get the ABT certificate, which requires researches, papers and experiences of chairing industry meetings in addition to his PhD degree.

Since 2017, Suzhou has worked with universities, associations and enterprises to release five batches of catalogues of vocational qualifications, which include 344 items for comparable recognition in the city. These qualifications issued in countries including the United States, Germany and Japan cover medical engineering, electronic information, machinery and other fields closely related to the city’s industrial development.

At present, 180 people who have international vocational qualifications and are engaged in relevant technical or management work in Suzhou have obtained the corresponding professional titles through this recognition scheme.

The Suzhou Area of the China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone, based on the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), has also boosted presence of talent training agencies from across the world. In 2020, the SIP became home to a school of Germany-based Aesculap Academy, which is Jiangsu’s first wholly foreign-funded vocational training organization. The school provides continuing education to medical professionals necessary to industrial upgrading in the city. Last year, the school organized four training sessions for 60 medical device inspectors, 100 medical device assemblers and 60 laboratory animal specialists.