A German expert explains a point to his Chinese students. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

The reason why Taicang is home to more than 260 German enterprises is not only its impressive supporting facilities, but also the professional talents the city trains for them through its dual vocational training system.

The Secondary Vocational School of Taicang introduced the dual system from Germany, where it is the commonest form of vocational training, in 2001.

"Dual" in this context means a combination of practical, on-the-job training and theoretical education at a vocational school, ensuring a proper balance of theory and practice.

The school cooperated with Kern-Liebers, the first German enterprise in the city, in establishing the Taicang German Enterprises Technician training center in 2001, and has since developed two kinds of training systems based on its own requirements.

The first involves cooperation between the Secondary Vocational School and a leading enterprise. The school is responsible for general knowledge, professional theory and part of the practical skills training while the enterprise trains students in practical skills by offering internship positions.

The second requires cooperation between the school and middle and small-sized enterprises. The approach is similar to the first one except that a training center is co-founded by the school and the enterprises.

In both systems the school and enterprises invest a certain amount of money to keep training equipment in good condition or replace outdated equipment.

The parties jointly work out training targets, including students' short-term employment hopes and their career goals in ten years, and relevant courses are then formulated.

Teachers at the school are all trained in the systematic teaching method of German vocational education and the company trainers are all highly qualified.

Besides the Taicang German Enterprises Technician Training Center, five other training centers have been established in Taicang to date, including the Schaeffler (China) Training Center, the German Bavarian Technician Training Center, the European and American Enterprise Training Center and the Haering (Taicang) Training Center.