At the Luban Portuguese Workshop in Setubal, Portugal, 16 high-tech machines are running at full speed. Inside the workshop are college students learning automation, while visiting teachers and students observe the lessons.

One of the visiting students remarks loudly, "Chinese technology and Chinese equipment are astonishing!"

Jose Pedro Magalhaes Lucas, dean of the Luban Portuguese Workshop, said the training equipment is more advanced than what the institute had before.

The Luban Portuguese Workshop was established by the Tianjin Vocational College of Mechanics and Electricity and the Polytechnic Institute of Setubal in Portugal. On Dec 5, 2018, the mayor of Tianjin and the mayor of Setubal signed the Portuguese Luban Workshop Construction Agreement to mark the 40th anniversary of China-Portugal diplomatic ties.

At the heart of the project is technical training to develop skilled professionals familiar with Chinese technology, products and standards.

The workshop was named after China's great craftsman and inventor Lu Ban, who lived during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

He was famous for creating numerous carpentry tools and was revered as China's master craftsman.

"The Luban Workshop is a major achievement of Tianjin's international exchanges and cooperation in vocational education. It is a wide and very complete Industry 4.0 engineering infrastructure, with full potential for collaboration with industry," said Lucas, referring to the new phase of industrial development that focuses on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning and real-time data.

The workshop is a stimulating space for teaching, and is fitted out well enough for students to practice their skills for academic competitions, he added.

To date, the workshop has trained 44 college students and 18 postgraduates majoring in automation. Ten undergraduates have completed studies in the application of programmable automation projects.

The workshop has also provided special training sessions on industrial robot technology for both teachers and students.

Lyu Jingquan, deputy director of the management committee of Tianjin Haihe Education Park, said Portuguese students have solid basic knowledge, but there is a gap in operational skills between them and their Chinese counterparts.

"The programs taught in the Luban Portuguese Workshop are guided by practical applications and cultivate students' scientific inquiry ability and problem solving ability, which can greatly reduce the running-in period of graduates entering enterprises," Lyu told Xinhua News Agency.

"The teaching mode is in line with the needs of modern enterprises."

Chen Jiquan is chairman of Yalong Intelligent Equipment Group, which gave some of the training equipment to the workshop. "The workshop builds a bridge that connects Chinese enterprises with the world and promotes Chinese technology abroad," Chen said.

He said that it also helps Chinese enterprises based abroad to cultivate local employees who are familiar with Chinese technology, products and craftsmanship.

Lucas offered his gratitude to China, Tianjin and Tianjin Vocational College for the friendliness and support shown to his institute. "Thank you China, Thank you Tianjin, Thank you Tianjin Vocational College for all your friendliness and support to let us, at IPS Portugal, to dream with new era of a world with a strong digital intelligence.," he said at the Vision China event on Tuesday.