British Coatings Federation (BCF) and the China National Coatings Industry Association (CNCIA) on March 27 signed a long-term training agreement in Puyang, China at the 2019 China Coatings Summit.

The Coatings Training Institute (CTI), launched by the British Coatings Federation in 2014, has delivered specialist coatings and printing ink training via distance learning to hundreds of students in over 20 countries around the world.

With the growing demand for educating a large number of new entrants to the coatings industry in China, CNCIA and BCF have signed a long-term cooperation agreement to launch the Coatings Training Institute in China.

“I am proud and honored that CNCIA will be using our British training program as the basis of the new Coatings Training Institute in China, and I will ensure that we give support to CNCIA, particularly in the first few weeks and months, to ensure a smooth start to the project," BCF CEO Tom Bowtell said. "We will also be here to support CNCIA in the years to come, as we believe in long-term relationships.”

CNCIA will now begin the work to build the CTI proposition for China, including translating all training materials, creating a dedicated online study portal, and hiring local tutors to support the student’s study.

“After more than two years of discussions and negotiation with the BCF, we finally reached an agreement to launch the online training program CTI in China," said Madame Sun, president of CNCIA. "We believe that talent cultivation is the most important issue for the coatings industry in China, and the well-established CTI modules from BCF will help with the long-term development of our industry. With strong support from BCF, we will realize the localization of the whole online system soon - CNCIA and BCF will work closely to develop the future talent of the coatings industry in China.”