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Suzhou City, China
Suzhou is located in the province of Jiangsu and is situated to the west of Shanghai.
groups
City population
12,911,000
person
Member since
2024
Vision
Suzhou aims to establish itself as a lifelong learning city by 2025, in alignment with its Local Regulations on the Promotion of Lifelong Learning. Its strategy focuses on equitable learning opportunities, balancing urban and rural coverage, and fostering a robust lifelong learning infrastructure for all age groups. The city emphasizes high-quality and inclusive development across educational levels, from early childhood to adult education.
We adhere to the principle that social development should serve human development, encourage the creation of learning cities and villages, and fulfil the goals set forth in UNESCO’s Education 2030 plan, which calls for equitable and inclusive high-quality education that will enable everyone to take advantage of opportunities for lifelong learning and shared prosperity.
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Mr Qingwen Wu
Mayor of Suzhou City
Policies, plan and implementation
Sustainability and health
Suzhou is committed to building a green, low-carbon city aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The city incorporates lifelong learning and health programmes into its broader economic and social strategy. Specific health training for older adults is featured, and its lifelong learning strategy comprises sustainability measures pertaining to urban water management (the ‘sponge city’ approach), public transport and the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Equity and inclusion
The city offers subsidized skills training covering various career stages and has established 126 vocational training institutions. Suzhou collaborates with the private sector to directly employ trained youth, especially in industrial innovation clusters like biomedicine and intelligent manufacturing. The city furthermore legally safeguards learning rights and promotes gender equality.
Decent work and entrepreneurship
The city collaborates with employers to ensure fair working conditions and focuses on upskilling the workforce to meet labour market needs. With 238 entrepreneurship service centres aiding nearly 38,000 enterprises, Suzhou has been named ‘China’s Best Employment Promotion City’ for three consecutive years.
Good practices
Rural Community Learning Centre (CLC) Capacity-Building
The initiative is run jointly with the China Adult Education Association. It aims to advance lifelong learning by working with urban learning communities, bolstering local capacities and fostering the development of learning cities.