Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

Tianjin Provincial Government provides grant for Luban Workshop at Durban University of Technology (Linked to Record ID#88544)

Funder	Unspecified Chinese Government Institution
Recipient Organization	Durban University of Technology (DUT)
Country	South Africa
Start Date	May 12, 2019
End Date	Jul 23, 2026
Duration	2,629 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`85785`

Grant Description

On December 16, 2019, China's Tianjin Vocational Institute (TVI) officially opened the Luban Workshop at South Africa's Durban University of Technology (DUT). All Luban Workshops are funded by the Provincial Government of Tianjin, which earmarked funds for the program. The value of the grant that supported this specific DUT Luban Workshop is unknown.

In September 2018 at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, President Xi Jinping announced that China will build 10 Luban workshops in Africa to provide vocational and technical training to African youth.

Luban is a famous Chinese structural engineer and the purpose of this project is to teach students high-end technical skills like 3D printing.

From May 6 to 12, 2019, a delegation from DUT was invited to Tianjin, China to visit the Luban Workshop at TVI and the two sides subsequently committed to establishing one at DUT.

In September 2019, the two sides created an implementation plan for two new labs at DUT, one for 3D printing and the other for narrowband (NB) internet-of-things (IOT). DUT would carry out the renovations and TVI would donate the equipment (see Record ID#88544).

📋 Staff Comments

1. The Chinese project title is 德班理工大学鲁班工坊2. Luban Workshop (鲁班工坊) is a technical assistance program started by Tianjin's Vocational Institute in BRI countries. While it is an important Chinese foreign policy objective, the workshop is not funded through a specific fund or a government entity. Instead, it is heavily dependent on each project. While the Chinese government may directly fund some projects, Chinese SOEs or the specific vocational schools in Tianjin may fund others. As a result, AidData assumes an unspecified Chinese government agency has funded the project. For more information, please consult: https://www.tj.gov.cn/zwgk/szfwj/tjsrmzfbgt/202005/t20200519_2370529.html?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template and http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s5147/202112/t20211202_584025.html

📚 Sources & References

驻德班总领事费明星出席鲁班工坊启用仪式 'Consul General Fei Mingxing attended the opening ceremony of Luban Workshop'
DUT LAUNCHES THE FIRST LUBAN WORKSHOP IN SOUTH AFRICA
DUT AND TVI HOST A SUCCESSFUL LUBAN WORKSHOP INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP APPOINTMENT CEREMONY AND SEMINAR
Luban Workshops help build vocational skills and boost employment in host countries
Winning friends by training workers is China’s new gambit
China is educating engineers around the world
Luban Workshop——China’s vocational education going global
Luban Workshop Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.