Li Jianguo, a 49-year-old teacher at the Tianjin Vocational Institute, is set to be named as one of the"2022 most beautiful teachers"－an annual public award sponsored by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Ministry of Education.

His outstanding commitment will be broadcast on China Central Television on the evening of Sept 10－the 38th annual Teachers' Day.

Li, who is the director of the machinery project practice center at the institute, has stood out by taking the lead in the training of students in vocational skills, garnering a number of laurels including being named a national role model teacher.

He has mentored seven national-level technique experts and a team of 14 technique "masters", who were nominated by Tianjin authorities.

On his team, a total of 22 teachers have won the May 1 Labor Medal in Tianjin－an award honoring leading personnel in the city, and 25 have won equivalent local awards.

One of his students, Guo Jinpeng, who graduated from the institute in 2007, became a teacher at the Chengdu Auto Vocational and Technical School. He was named a national role model teacher in 2019.

On July 1, 2021, both Li and Guo were invited as honorary guests to Tian'anmen Square to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the CPC.

Li's nomination as one of the "most beautiful teachers" reflects that China is focusing on the importance of vocational education and aims to foster more leading personnel with the spirit of craftsmanship in the manufacturing industry.

At an international vocational and technical education conference in Tianjin last month, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng said, "China will accelerate the creation of a modern vocational education system and push for the greater integration of vocational education with regular education and industrial development."

He also noted that the country will continue to prioritize vocational education and accelerate the development of modern, inclusive and demand-driven vocational education led by the government and with participation from all sectors.

Li noted that there is no difference between vocational education and ordinary education, and "vocational education is not 'secondary' nor should it ever be treated as less than ordinary education".

"Vocational education has the mission of fostering a quality workforce and technical experts for the country… The hardworking spirit is key to building any ordinary people into leading personnel," he said.

Li joined the institute in 1993 as a college graduate and completed higher learning while at the institute.

In 2004, Li founded a machinery engineering practice center, providing free training to 7,500 people a week, while helping the institute achieve sound revenue in the practice-produce model of education.

In 2015, he led a team of teachers to work for 40 days to renovate 124 machine tools in the center.

Their efforts paid off. Liu Yang, for example, has trained some 2,000 engineers since 2015. In recent years, more than 20 of Liu's students have won national awards in digital machine tool competitions.

Li has devoted himself to building the country's first additive manufacturing technique and application center at the institute in a bid to quench the thirst for the country's human resources in 3D printing.