Chinese college pledges to support Seychelles Institute of Technology Compiled by Patsy Canaya |18 September 2023
Mr Barbe and Mr Anxin shake hands after signing the document
The Seychelles Institute of Technoly (SIT) and the Chinese Huanggang Polytechnic College have signed a letter of intent to initiate a partnership between the local institution and the Chinese post-secondary institution.
The letter of intent was signed last Friday at the SIT’s compound in Providence by the SIT director Hubert Barbe and the principal of Huanggang Polytechnic College, Anxin Jiang.
Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Mr Barbe said under this initiative, which is expected to come into force next year, the Huanggang Polytechnic College will explore ways to support the local post-secondary institution.
“These are in three main areas namely support us with our curriculum development plant, capacity-building by providing training for our local lecturers and attend to our staff shortage by plugging in and providing staff where needed,” he explained.
Mr Barbe said SIT welcomes the initiative as it comes at an opportune time when the institution finalises its new strategic plan, which focuses on digitalisation and transformation, including new ways of learning and teaching, as a new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centre opens its doors next year.
“We will be able to go a level higher and introduce our advanced diploma course, instead of just certificate and diploma which will be taken by TVET,” explained Mr Barbe, adding that the new course would also reduce the number of years SIT graduates spend on overseas training in China, which is presently three years.
“Instead of three years, they will only do two, as they would be able to start their first year degree programme in Seychelles before pursuing their studies overseas.”
It should be noted that SIT is also in discussion with a second college, Jining Polytechnic of Motor Vehicle Engineering, for a similar collaboration.
The post-secondary institution is exploring potential partnership with Malaysian universities as well.
Photos by Joena Meme
