Tianjin University of Technology and Education is a higher education institution with emphasis on engineering and education and combining science, liberal art, economics, and management. It mainly cultivates students with four-year bachelor’s degree and there are also some disciplines granting Master’s degree. It is one of the first higher vocational and technical normal universities established in China, which mainly cultivates and trains vocational and technical teachers and applied professionals in advanced technology. At present, TUTE has 30 specialties, 10 disciplines offering master’s degree and it possesses several strong specialties, excellent school-running conditions and qualified teaching staff, which form our distinctive cultivating system of talented people and striking school-running features. Under these circumstances, it gradually enhances the quality of teaching and research and widely promotes its roles in social service, international communication and educational aid abroad. Since its foundation, TUTE has cultivated over 20 thousand graduates with qualified teaching competence and special skills for the development of vocational education and economic construction in China. Our graduates’ excellent performance has earned our university’s good reputation as “the cradle of Chinese vocational and technical teaching staff”.

    1.Historical Development

    In 1959, Tianjin Technical Teachers’ Training School was founded under our state’s ratification and subordinated to the State Labor Ministry in China. It renewed its name as Tianjin Technical Teachers’ Training Institute and formally enrolled students majored in mechanical engineering and crafts in 1960. In 1961, it was merged into Tianjin Technical School of Electrical Control which was formerly managed by the State Labor Ministry because of our country’s economic difficulty. And in the same year, Tianjin Technical School of Electrical Control was divided into Tianjin Labor Bureau and then renewed its name as Technical School of Tianjin Labor Bureau. In 1979, for the teaching staff ‘s development of technical education, it was ratified by our nation’s 14 government leaders such as the state prime minister in that time office Hua Guofeng, vice- prime minister Deng Xiaoping etc.. To restore Tianjin Technical Teachers’ Training Institute directly affiliated with the State Labor Bureau on the basis of Technical School of Tianjin Labor Bureau and The Fifth Machine Tool Factory in Tianjin. In 1980, Tianjin Technical Teachers’ Training Institute began to enroll students formally. It renewed its name again in 1983 as Tianjin Vocational and Technical Teachers’ Training Institute. In 2000, it was rebuilt and governed both by the central government and the city of Tianjin (Tianjin as its main administrative part). Its present name was got in 2004.

    2.Cultivating Talented People

    Since its foundation, TUTE has cultivated over 20,000 undergraduates and 3-year graduates spreading over many secondary technical schools, vocational institutes, vocational training centers, formal colleges and companies. Some graduates are sent to vocational institute in Africa, serving as aiding teachers. At present, TUTE has an enrollment of 10601 full-time students, of which there are 9101 four-year undergraduates. Recently, confronting fierce social competition in job market, our graduates are still thought highly by many companies. Our employment rate keeps over 93%. About 55% graduates are working as teachers in secondary vocational institutes or vocational colleges of high education nationwide. There are also several outstanding graduates working in every field, such as Liu Kang graduated in 1984, who is the director of China’s employment instruction center and vocational skill evaluation center in the state labor and social security bureau; Wang Chuanxue graduated in 1988, who is the director of education center in Beijing Steel and Iron Group; Peng Yuhai graduated in 1989, who is the president of Electromechanical Technical College in the city of Jing Zhou of Hubei Province and called “ class A” president in the field of vocational education in Hubei Province; Feng Zhaosheng graduated in 1991, who is the professor of Texas University；Xu Guosheng graduated in 1996, who in 2004 wined the first place in teachers’ group of Digital Control Competition for Working Staff in China , received China’s May Day award and the glorious title of “ National Technical Expert”; Wang Shicheng graduated in 2002, who is the chief designer in an research institute of China Astronautic Science Group etc..

    3.Disciplines and Specialties

    Now TUTE has six divisions---engineer, education, science, liberal art, economics, and management. Mechanical engineer and its automation and vocation technical education are the key disciplines in Tianjin, applied engineering of carrier tool is the mainly developed discipline in Tianjin. In the year of 2003, TUTE became the first ratified university in China to grant Master’s degree. At present, the university has 10 master’s degree programs and 30 specialties in which the following six specialties are very distinctive: mechanical engineering and technological education, engineering education of Automobile maintenance, electrical technological education, electronic information engineering, vocational technical education and management and computer science and technology.

    4.Teaching Staff

    TUTE has a qualified and distinctive faculty member in which professors and assistant professors account for 41.4%. Experimental and practicing assistant teachers with the qualifications of technical engineer and senior technical engineer account for 78%. In the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Automation Engineering, teachers with “integrated double certificates” have occupied 56%. During the “the tenth five-year planning”, one teacher received China’s May Day Award, 12 teachers got the title of “ National Technical Expert” or “Tianjin Municipal Technical Expert”, two teachers won the prize of Great Teacher in Tianjin, three teachers got the title of “Model Worker of Tianjin Municipality”, and 33 teachers were appraised as excellent chief teachers in our university. In the contest of young teachers’ teaching capacity among the universities of high education in Tianjin, teachers from our university achieved good results---three first prizes, three-second prizes and six third prizes.?

    5. Teaching conditions

    Tianjin University of Technology and Education covers 626,000 square meters with a total floor space of nearly 320,000 square meters. Sports ground covers 56,400 square meters, digital library covers 17,000 square meters. TUTE has 895,000 books, 766,000 books on the university website, 26 Chinese and foreign data bases, 1000 m broadband of college network outlet, and has teaching and research equipment which worth 207 million Yuan. The university provides students with the Attached Advanced Technical Institute, a factory for training students in practical skills and also attaches students to the fifth machine tool plant in Tianjin, to apply what they have learned into practice.

    6. Achievements of Teaching Reform

    As early as in 1990, TUTE established new mode for school management that is characterized by carrying out the “Double Certificates System” and cultivating the “Integrated Teachers of Vocational Education”. In 1996, TUTE became the first university in China to produce graduate students with high academic credentials and the certificate of professional qualification. In 1997, the teaching achievements of double certificates system and the system of training integrated vocational teachers won the first prize in the national Teaching Achievement Appraisal. In 2003, TUTE successfully conducted a new educational reform of “bachelor plus technician” and cultivated the first graduates with both Bachelor’s Degree and National Vocational Education. In 2005, TUTE’s teaching achievement--- “A new educational reform of cultivating advanced technical professionals—Bachelor plus Technical” won the first prize in the National Teaching Achievement Appraisal. Through the cooperation with other institutes, TUTE got second prize in National Teaching Achievement. In 2004, establishment and implement of interactive mode----“teaching reform---scientific innovation---course contest” got the first prize in Tianjin Teaching Achievement Appraisal. We also got two first prizes in Tianjin Teaching Achievement Appraisal through the cooperation with other institutes. Besides, we got four second prizes in Tianjin Teaching Achievement Appraisal in 2000 and 2004.
    In recent three years, TUTE has took part in many national contests of university students, such as National Electronic Design Contest, National Challenge Cup Contest of extracurricular academic scientific works, National Mathematics Modeling Contest and so on, and has won eight first national prizes, ten second national prizes, two third national prizes and 117 municipal prizes. In 2004, TUTE got the third place in the Third National TV Contest of Robots by University Students.

    7. Scientific Research

    There are 17 academic research institutes such as Vocational Education Institute, African Vocational Education research center and some others in TUTE. During the implement of “the tenth five-year planning”, the university has undertaken 648 projects, such as the national 863 project, national key projects of scientific planning of education, projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, technological projects of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, projects supported by the Natural Science foundation of Tianjin municipality, key projects of philosophic and social science of Tianjin municipality, Scientific Standardization of Education of Tianjin municipality, Scientific and technical developing founds of university of higher education of Tianjin municipal education committee and so on. TUTE got 12 prizes in provincial Scientific Achievement Appraisal. 1632 articles have been published, among which 167 articles have been included in SCI, EI, ESTP and Social Science Essential Collection. To 2005, the funds on the scientific study have reached RMB 11,250,000 Yuan. Our school published academic journals like TUTE Journal and Vocational Education Research that were appraised as Tianjin Municipal first-rate periodicals in 2004 and 2005. Vocational Education Research also won the first prize of National Vocational Education Periodicals Contest in successive years. The articles in Vocational Education Research were often reprinted in other famous journals like Xinhua Digest, Newspapers Copy Materials of Renmin University of China and some others, and its reprinting rate top the list of periodicals of the same kind in China. In 2006, TUTE undertook three projects of National Natural Science Found by her own, and one project of National Defense pre-research.

    8. Construction of national-rate training base

    TUTE has been approved as first “ National key vocational teachers training base”, “ national higher vocational teachers training base”, “national vocational teachers training base”, national high technical professionals training base”, “Educational Foreign Aid Base by Ministry of Education” and other 13 training bases by China’s Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Among these bases, the first three take a leading role in the universities of the same kind. TUTE is in charge of vocational teaching staff committee of vocational and technical institute of China, career-guiding committee, committee of setting-up national vocational and technical school, educational researching committee of degree and the postgraduates. During the implement of “the tenth five-year planning”, those training bases have cultivated at least 2000 core teachers for higher or secondary vocational education and trained more than 600 presidents and executives of vocational school. From 2003, the university began to undertake the task of compiling textbooks on techniques of high school for six selective courses and was confirmed as the training base of training national core trainees for high school technical course. From 2002 to 2003, entrusted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, TUTE compiled textbooks for six basic curriculum of advanced technical school (they are politics, Chinese, mathematics, English, sports, and computer). In 2006, the university got the award for outstanding contributions in editing vocational training textbooks from 2003 to 2005.

    9. International Exchanges and Cooperation

    Our university actively develops international and regional exchange and cooperation. Up to now, the university has established close cooperation relations with universities of the same kind such as United States, Japan, Korea, Britain, Australia, and so on. We have imported the advanced equipments worthy 18 billion Japanese yen and founds of Japanese JICA Succeeding Aid Project through the cooperation with Japanese government. TUTE is the 98th university in China that receives foreign students with Chinese government scholarship, such as the students from Ukraine, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Zambia, Vietnam and so on. As the first educational foreign aid base of China’s Ministry of Education, it has actively launched teaching staff training for 87 education officials of developing countries including Mr.Jamah A.Barco, Assistant of the education minister of Liberia has trained two hundred and fifty-one vocational teaching staff for thirty-four developing countries in Africa, South-Asia, East-Europe, and appointed eighty-nine teachers to Ethiopia and Yemen to train more than 8000 students. TUTE also established the first research center of African Vocational Education in China to carry out the systematic study about the African Vocational Education. Mr.Mulatu Teshome, Speaker of the House of Federation of Ethiopia, and Mr.Wondwosen Kiflu , State Minister，the Ministry of Education in Ethiopia were appointed as the specially hired professors in research center of African Vocational Education of our school.
    At present, TUTE has held a leading position among the institutes of the same kind, has had certain influence in the world as a high-level vocational and technical teachers’ university and is renowned as a cradle of cultivating the vocational teachers in China. TUTE will accelerate the step of development and reform, explore a distinctive way of school management, and make efforts to keep its leading role in institutes of the same kind, and turn our school into a first-rate national, international vocational and technical normal university.