Across mountains and seas, education serves as a bridge; through open cooperation, we advance toward a shared future.
On September 16, the "Finland-China Higher Education and Science Networking Event", hosted by the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, was held at the residence of the Embassy. As a leading institution serving the national strategy of opening education up to the world and with deep expertise in internationalized vocational education, Dalian Maple Leaf College of Technology was invited to attend. Xin Shangyue, Director of the university's "Belt and Road" Industry-University-Research International Cooperation Innovation Base, attended the event on behalf of the university and held one-on-one discussions with representatives from Finnish universities, Universities of Applied Sciences, educational technology institutions, and Chinese institutions, jointly charting a new blueprint for China-Finland cooperation in vocational education and technological innovation.
A High-Level Platform: China-Finland Educational and Scientific Cooperation Reconvenes
This networking event brought together representatives from the governments, universities, and educational institutions of both China and Finland, featuring a high profile, a high level, and substantive matchmaking.
Ms. Mari-Leena Talvitie, Minister of Science and Culture of Finland; Mr. Mikko Kinnunen, Ambassador of Finland to China; and Mr. Yu Yang, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), attended the event and delivered remarks. Mr. Olli Suominen, Counsellor for Education and Science at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, presided over the meeting.
The event unfolded in an orderly manner following the rhythm of "keynote leadership — institutional presentations — precise matchmaking": 12:30–13:00 guest registration; 13:00–13:30 opening remarks by the organizers; 13:30–14:00 presentations by participating institutions one by one; 14:00–15:00 free networking, exchanges and discussions, and a tea break. From ministerial addresses to university dialogues, from policy interpretation to project matchmaking, the entire event was pragmatic and efficient, building a high-level platform for the institutions of both countries to address needs directly and reach cooperation immediately. This was also a vivid practice in which the educational and scientific communities of the two countries deepened mutual trust and sought cooperation together, against the backdrop of the steady advancement of the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership between China and Finland.
Maple Leaf Speaks Out: Showcasing China's Approach through "Vocational Education Going Global"
During the institutional presentation session, Xin Shangyue gave a systematic introduction to the university's distinctive internationalized education in full English, elaborating on the Maple Leaf practice of "vocational education going global". She noted that Dalian Maple Leaf College of Technology currently has over 10,000 students enrolled, offers more than 40 majors, and has built a collaborative education framework of eight industry colleges; the university has attracted more than 700 international students from 45 countries, established "Mozi Workshops" in Cambodia and Indonesia, signed memoranda of understanding with over 30 institutions in countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, and operates one of China's largest overseas technical-skills talent dispatch bases, sending more than 3,000 technical and skilled professionals abroad each year. A string of solid data and a set of impressive achievements drew frequent nods and keen interest from the Finnish institutional representatives present.
Hello, everyone. We are Dalian Maple Leaf College of Technology, located in Dalian, China, with over 10,000 students and more than 40 majors organised under eight industry colleges. Our distinctive strength lies in 'going global' in vocational education…
From "bringing in" to "going out", from "exporting students" to "exporting standards", Maple Leaf's vocational education is contributing Chinese wisdom to global vocational education through a replicable, scalable, and sustainable path of practice.
Four Directions: From "Going Out" to "Going In"
At the event, Xin Shangyue extended four cooperation invitations to Finnish partners around the principles of resource sharing, complementarity, and mutual benefit:
1. Joint Programmes — promoting mutual recognition of professional standards, interoperability of curricula, and mutual recognition of academic credentials and credits;
2. Mutual Industry College Establishment — integrating the industry-college education model of Maple Leaf with the "dual-education" experience of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences;
3. Faculty/Student Exchanges & Short-term Study Tours — deepening two-way mobility and cultivating technical and skilled talents with global competence;
4. Educational Technology & AI-driven Teaching Pilots — conducting joint exploration in areas such as smart teaching, virtual training, and AI teaching assistants.
Finland possesses world-leading educational philosophies and a well-developed vocational education and Universities of Applied Sciences system, while our university offers solid industry support, mature overseas education experience, and large-scale talent cultivation capacity. One side excels in philosophy and methodology, the other in scenarios and scale; the two are highly complementary with broad space for cooperation.
The Base's Role: Serving the "Belt and Road" and Expanding International…
…Cooperation into New Territory
The "Belt and Road" Industry-University-Research International Cooperation Innovation Base of Dalian Maple Leaf College of Technology is an important platform for the university to serve the national "Belt and Road" Initiative and promote the coordinated "going global" of the education chain, talent chain, industry chain, and innovation chain.
This trip to Beijing for the event is a key step for the base to expand its European cooperation map and elevate the level of international cooperation: it extends the university's international partners from "countries along the routes" to developed European countries, deepens the cooperation level from "signing agreements" to "project implementation", and elevates the substance of cooperation from "faculty-student exchanges" to "joint standard-building, joint technology research, and joint talent cultivation".
In the future, the base will continue to leverage its platform aggregation role: pooling resources through the platform to build a network of European partner institutions; driving implementation through projects to bring cooperation such as joint education, industry colleges, and study-tour exchanges to fruition as soon as possible; and building the brand through standards, transforming Maple Leaf experiences such as the "Mozi Workshop" and industry colleges into internationally recognized models of cooperation.
From the shore of the Bohai Sea to the coast of the Baltic Sea, geographical distance cannot dampen the warmth of educational cooperation.
One matchmaking session is the building of trust; one exchange is the starting point of cooperation. Standing at the forefront of the era of opening education to the world, Dalian Maple Leaf College of Technology will, with a more open posture and more pragmatic measures, write the story of "vocational education going global" onto the map of global vocational education, contributing Maple Leaf's strength to serving the overall national strategy of opening education to the world and advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
