(Yicai Global) Sept. 7 -- HM Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences will set up a college of applied technology in Shanghai’s free trade zone, the Shanghai Observer reported today.

Shanghai Tongji University will be the local partner and the pair are expected to sign a memorandum of co-operation later this year, the report said.

The school, located in the Lingang New Area of Shanghai’s free trade zone, will be based on the practice-oriented vocational training system, also known as the dual system, where students learn their skills both at the school and in a professional workplace. It is one of the main forms of vocational training in Germany and is becoming more popular in China. Graduates tend to find jobs more easily than university students as their education is more practical in nature.

MUAS is following in the footsteps of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences which said in August last year that it will set up China’s first institution of higher education wholly owned by a foreign university in the country’s southern-most province, Hainan.

Editor: Kim Taylor