BEIJING, Dec. 27 -- An education group has been established to tackle a chronic shortage of professionals in Shanghai's transport sector.
Based on two existing vocational schools, the Shanghai Transport and Logistics Vocational Education Group is a polytechnic-level education institute that has the support of 23 transport firms.
The corporate supporters - such as Shanghai Jiaoyun International Logistics Co Ltd and Oriental International Logistics Holdings - will team up with schools in course design, faculty training and student evaluation programs.
Students of the group will be offered opportunities to do hands-on internships at these companies, which are all major players in the transport and logistics sector, officials said.
"It's our target to nurture young talent with both high level theoretical ability and innovative hands-on ability to make for the professional shortage," Shen Xiaoming, director of the Shanghai Education Commission, said at the group's inauguration ceremony.
Shanghai is estimated to need a total of 500,000 logistics professionals over the next two or three years.
The present supply, however, is less than 100,000, according to an earlier report by the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau.
The city's professional development plan has listed transport and logistics professionals as one of 12 types of urgently needed talents.
