VW China fuels Shaanxi vocational education

Representatives from Volkswagen Group China, Shaanxi Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and Yan'an Vocational & Technical College pose for photos at the donation ceremony in Yan'an, Shaanxi province, May 6, 2014. [Photo/ Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

German auto giant Volkswagen donated five of its most innovative domestically produced engines and three advanced transmissions to Yan'an Vocational & Technical College and sponsored the establishment of the VW Group China Yan'an Powertrain Lab in Shaanxi province on Tuesday.

The donation and sponsorship, both key components of Volkswagen's support for the Rainbow Bridge Project, are expected to improve the college's quality of teaching and support the cultivation of professional auto talents in China's historically important yet less developed areas.

"Volkswagen's support of the Rainbow Bridge Project builds on the advantages of the Group's 'dual vocational education system' and supports vocational education and training in China's historically important yet less developed areas to improve local auto-industry job opportunities," said Zhang Suixin, executive vice-president of Volkswagen Group China.

The engines donated are TSI 1.8-liter, two disassemble TSI 2-liter, an EA211 1.6l MPI MQ, and an EA211 1.4-liter TSI engines; the transmissions are DQ200 and MQ200 gearboxes.

"With the Rainbow Bridge Project, Volkswagen is already providing the junior football teams of Zhidan and Hong'an new opportunities, such as exchanges with Germany. Now, with its commitment to talents training in China's historically important yet less developed areas, Volkswagen is furthering the sustainable development of the Chinese society," said Zhang.

Establishing the lab, Volkswagen is further promoting the education of new talents for tomorrow's auto industry and helping young people from historically important yet less developed areas realize their dreams.

"To improve people's education level is more important than merely providing financial support to help the less developed areas. Those regions are more short of well-trained talents, compared with developed major cities. The key is to teach the youth how to fish, rather than give them fish," said Yang Meihong, VW Group China vice-president.

VW Group will provide instructors of Yan'an Vocational & Technical College with onsite training at Volkswagen Group's assemble plant in Shanghai, and gearbox plant in Dalian, during the summer break.

Volkswagen's commitment to the Rainbow Bridge Project, which Volkswagen joined in 2013, focuses on expanding people-to-people diplomacy between China and Germany, supporting historically important yet less developed areas, and giving full play to the advantageous resources of Volkswagen.

Rainbow Bridge Project

The Rainbow Bridge Project, initiated by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, leverages the organizational experience and support of multinational corporations to support young people from China's less developed areas.

VW Group China initiated the vocational education project while considering the junior football team project in October last year.

"I saw students using two outdated engines to learn car maintenance and repairing. Those engines are not in line with the country's national IV standard." said Yang.

The country's new cars made, imported or sold after July 1 2013 must meet the National IV emission standard. Using old engines would have meant that the students would have learnt outdated technology, which would have been useless in handling the national IV engines in practical terms after graduation.

At that moment, Yang thought of arranging advanced engines for the training.

She contacted seven plants and all gave positive response. Exceeding her expectations, the plants extended their support to workbenches and technical support engineers to ensure that the students acquired the skills comprehensively.

"The next step is to invite eight instructors to our plants in the summer, so they can master the latest techniques," said Yang. The effort is to close the gap between the practical demands of the market and the vocational education imparted through lectures.

With a financial commitment of 1.5 million yuan, Volkswagen contributes by providing junior football training, sports equipment and clothing, including vocational training and technical equipment for educational purposes, to students.

In March, VW Group and the Rainbow Bridge Project took the Chinese Zhidan and Hong'an junior football team to Germany, for training with coaches from VfL Wolfsburg and a friendship match in Berlin against the U13 team of German Bundesliga. It helped Chinese young people from less developed areas realize their football dreams.

"Volkswagen's support of the Rainbow Bridge Project will provide opportunities for future generations of China from economically less developed areas to fulfill their football dreams and learn what it means to be trained by professional coaches, such as those by VfL Wolfsburg," Volkswagen Group China President & CEO Jochem Heizmann said earlier.

Sustainable mobility

Over the past three decades, VW Group has been committed to China's auto industry and Chinese society by comprehensively performing its corporate social responsibilities in sustainable mobility, clean environment and taking care of people.

Volkswagen's corporate social responsibility programs, such as the 'Green Future' environmental education initiative, the 'Volkswagen Safety Road' video series, and the 'Volkswagen Group Child Safety Initiative', have strongly supported the sustainable development of Chinese society.

The company will partner with SAIC Motor Corp and First Automotive Works (FAW) Group to develop and begin production of new-energy vehicles in its largest market from 2016. Shanghai Volkswagen will further develop eco-friendly models and a joint research project, while FAW-VW will develop and manufacture a new, very eco-friendly vehicle in China.

The projects are part of 18.2 billion euros ($25.1 billion) in investment for new plants and products that Volkswagen and its partners are making between 2014 and 2018. It will be the largest-ever investment in China's automotive industry.

This year Volkswagen will import electric up!, e-golf and Audi A3 e-tron models.

"The import of hybrid models will follow in 2016 and then we will start to locally produce the plug-in hybrids under MQB and MLB shared modular construction platforms in China," said Heizmann.