Shanxi General Aviation Technical College [Photo provided to shanxi.chinadaily.com.cn/datong]

Shanxi General Aviation Technical College is a full-time public higher vocational and technical college. It is jointly managed by the Shanxi Provincial People's Government and the Datong Municipal People's Government, and is guided by the Provincial Department of Education and the Provincial Sports Bureau.

Located in the Datong General Aviation Industrial Park, the college covers an area of 370,666.67 square meters, with a total construction area of 244,000 square meters, and was built with a total investment of 1.48 billion RMB ($210 million). There are administrative buildings, teaching buildings, libraries, laboratory buildings, dormitories, scientific research buildings, terrace classrooms, student activity centers, gymnasiums, foreign exchange centers, training workshops, exhibition halls and canteens. The first phase of the construction project, with a total investment of 870 million yuan and a construction area of 129,000 square meters, has been completed. Now it has teaching and research equipment worth 12.04 million RMB ($1.74 million), 100,000 books, and 89 teachers, of which more than 89 percent have a graduate degree or above.

The college can accommodate 6,000 students. In 2020, it plans to enrol 1,500 students, and from there it will gradually increase student numbers. The first batch of six specialties that will be established are UAV application technology, aerial ground equipment maintenance, general navigational technology, civil aviation transportation, helicopter driving technology, and aircraft maintenance. 

By 2024, 22 specialties will be established, including more than three provincial-level specialties, and five categories of specialties including general aviation flight, general aviation flight attending, general aviation maintenance, general aviation services, and general aviation engineering will also be set up, forming a relatively complete general aviation vocational and technical education system.

The goal of the school is to become a well-known Chinese higher vocational college which focuses on the training of general aviation talents.

The school has established 15 practice and training bases through the integration of production and education, and through school-enterprise and school-school cooperation, and will establish 15 more.

At present, it is in cooperation with 15 companies including Datong Yungang Airport, Beiyue Airport, Datong Qingfei Company, and Datong Changying Mifeng Aircraft Manufacturing Company in specialty construction and teaching management to ensure the quality of its training.