From Blueprint to Breakthrough: China-South Africa Center of Excellence Delivers in Just Eight Months

Eight months after its inauguration, the China-South Africa Center for Engineering Capacity Building—the first of its kind—has already posted impressive results: 15 training sessions, 167 engineers from both countries sharing the same classroom, 8 South African experts flying to China for advanced study, and 2 technical specialists staying on for a month-long immersion. A growing cohort of “overseas apprentices” is now turning “Chinese know-how” into “South African practice.”

Launched on 19 March 2025 in Johannesburg, the center operationalizes the Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2024 under the witness of the two heads of state.

Jointly run by the Chinese Society of Engineers (CSE), SANY Heavy Industry and the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), the center targets core fields including construction-machinery manufacturing and automation control.

Its mission is to raise the bar for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for engineers and to create a platform for drafting joint technical standards, solving engineering challenges and lifting overall engineering capacity.

Within its first 240 days the center has already delivered 5 hands-on modules on gearbox and engine overhaul, letting 46 South African trainees strip and reassemble components themselves.

Returning home, these engineers adopt a “master-apprentice” approach to cascade new skills to peers. During the exchanges, both sides also hammer out concrete steps toward mutual recognition of technical standards.

The center is the flagship international outreach program of the CSE, sharing China’s construction experience and innovation with the Global South and bolstering talent under the Belt and Road Initiative. Next, the CSE plans to replicate the “South-Africa model” elsewhere, laying a stronger human-capital foundation for high-quality BRI cooperation.

Established on 18 March 2021 under the guidance of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the CSE serves as CAST’s principal arm for professionalizing and internationalizing Chinese engineers and for engaging in global engineering governance. Its secretariat is housed in CAST Center for Professional Training and Services.

Tags: CSE Secretariat, CAST Center for Professional Training and Services, National Communication Center for Science and Technology affiliated with CAST