Liao Debin (left), president of Chengdu Industrial Vocational Technical College, signs an agreement for the IMI program with Malcolm Cowgill, principal and chief executive of Central College Nottingham, on April 17. / Photo provided to China Daily

The first batch of 14 IMI program students receives IMI Level 1 certificates after the signing ceremony. / Photo provided to China Daily

A vocational school in Southwest China's Chengdu city is nurturing international certified auto mechanics with the help of a British counterpart.

The Chengdu Industrial Vocational Technical College signed an agreement for the Institute of Motor Industry (IMI) program with Central College Nottingham, a further education college in England, on April 17.

The IMI program, the first of its kind in China, welcomes British courses and an evaluation system to cultivate professional auto mechanics at international standards.

"We started the cooperation with the Institute of Motor Industry and Emtec Colleges Limited (ECL) affiliated with Central College Nottingham a decade ago," said Ma Xiong, Party chief of Chengdu Industrial Vocational Technical College.

During the period, teachers were sent to Britain for training. In 2009, seven of them received National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ). In March 2012, the nation's first IMI training class was officially lunched at the college.

The first batch of 14 students in the class was awarded IMI Level 1 certificates right after the signing ceremony.

"Chengdu has become the second largest city in terms of private cars in the nation," said Ma. "The demand for high-level auto mechanics is increasing."

The qualified IMI students have all been "ordered" by famous auto enterprises like Volvo. They will undergo job training in the enterprises in the latter half of this year before being hired, according to Ma.

More and more students have been interested in the IMI program. The second batch of IMI students has surged to 124.

"We expect the school to have between 300 to 500 IMI students in the coming years," said Andrew Moore, managing director of the ECL.

Apart from auto repair, the director is also expecting further cooperation with Chengdu Industrial Vocational Technical College.

"We can do body and paint, management qualifications.... The IMI has a very complete range of subjects," he said.