On November 15, Ms. Mapule Ncanywa, Chairwoman of the South Africa Section of the BRICS Business Council Skills Development, Applied Technology, and Innovation Working Group, and Du Hongjie, Deputy Chief of the Chinese Competition Office of the BRICS Skills Competition, visited Fengxian Campus of Shanghai Urban Construction Vocational College (SUCC). President Zhang Zhengrong and Vice President Guo Hongtao warmly received them. Attendees of the meeting included Yu Limin, Director of the International Cooperation Division, Wang Aihua, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Division, Zhu Feng, Deputy Dean of the School of Application of Artificial Intelligence, and Liu Jinrong, Deputy Dean of the School of Business Administration. The meeting was presided over by Guo Hongtao.

Zhang Zhengrong extended a warm welcome to the guests from South Africa. In his speech, he mentioned that China has now established the world's largest vocational education system with its own characteristics. As the economy, society, and science and technology develop rapidly, the requirements for vocational skills are also correspondingly increasing. As a provider of vocational education and teaching, SUCC is making every effort to improve the quality of technical talent training and help young students have broader career development prospects. He said that Chairwoman Mapule Ncanywa's visit coincided with the holding of the International Finals of Blockchain Technology of the 2024 BRICS Skills Competition at SUCC. SUCC would take this opportunity to continue deepening education and teaching reform, strengthen the construction of training bases, promote industry-education integration and school-enterprise cooperation, and make greater contributions to cultivating more high-quality technical talent with practical ability and innovation ability. He also hoped to advance in-depth cooperation and cultural exchanges in vocational education among BRICS countries through the competition.

Chairwoman Mapule Ncanywa expressed her gratitude for the warm hospitality. In her speech, she mentioned the education level and employment situation of young people in South Africa and expressed her praise and admiration for SUCC's achievements in technical talent training and students' further study and employment. She mentioned that the development of vocational education and training is an important way to cultivate talent, improve the employment rate, and promote industrial development, which has been fully valued and paid attention to in the National Development Plan 2030 for South Africa.

Chairwoman Mapule Ncanywa and her delegation also visited the training rooms of the School of Business Administration and the School of Application of Artificial Intelligence, speaking highly of SUCC's modern training equipment and environment.