By Senior Reporter, China Africa News
Zhejiang, China-Rwanda and China have reached a new milestone in vocational education and technology skills development. At the 2025 China-Africa TVET Cooperation Dialogue and Consortium Annual Conference in Jinhua, Rwanda Polytechnic (RP), represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academics, Research and Institutional Advancement Ephrem Musonera, signed a strategic partnership agreement with Jinhua University of Vocational Technology (JUVT) of China, together with Zicheng United Construction Group and Zhejiang Transfar Chemicals Co. Ltd.
The agreement binds academia and industry across borders, with specific emphasis on applied research, hands-on skills development and stronger employment pathways for Rwandan students.
Under the new deal, RP students in the exchange programme with JUVT have already showcased Rwanda’s cultural identity by performing a traditional dance during their time in China a vivid symbol of the cultural as well as educational link forged through this collaboration.
Meanwhile, the industry partners bring real-world infrastructure investments to the mix: Zhejiang Transfar Chemicals (mother company of Rwanda’s Value Platform Industrial Ltd.) adds a manufacturing dimension in Rwamagana, and Zicheng United Construction Group advances real estate investment through the Ramba Hills Estate project in Kacyiru, Rwanda. This blend of training, mobility and enterprise marks a shift from classroom to employment ecosystem.
This strategic partnership builds upon and amplifies an existing collaboration between RP and JUVT. In February 2025, thirty Rwandan students departed for China under a “2 + 1” model: two years studying in Rwanda and one year in China for advanced diplomas in e-commerce and electrical automation technology. Earlier, in January 2025, the first cohort of thirty graduates concluded their studies in China, marking a concrete outcome of the joint initiative. A further milestone was reached in November 2023 with the launch of a China-supported “Luban Workshop” at RP’s IPRC Musanze campus a facility equipped with modern robotics and automation labs designed to raise the standard of technical and vocational education.
The roots of this cooperation date back to an initial memorandum signed in December 2016 between the Rwandan Ministry of Education and JUVT, followed by a formal Memorandum of Understanding on 8 September 2019 between IPRC Musanze and JUVT, aimed at strengthening TVET and building trainer capacity.
For Rwanda, this partnership offers a pathway to build a highly skilled workforce aligned with national ambitions of transforming into a knowledge-based economy access to international curricula, global mobility for students, and upgraded institutional capacity make vocational education more relevant and aspirational. For China and its institutions, the arrangement represents an opportunity to export a vocational training model centered on “language + skills”, establish deeper industry-education linkages, and deepen people-to-people ties in Africa, aligning with broader strategic engagements.
