Four vocational education groups were established at a conference for integrated educational development in the Yangtze River Delta in Shanghai yesterday.

One group in Zhejiang Province focuses on intelligent manufacturing, one in Jiangsu on software, one in Shanghai on electronic information and one in Anhui on international business.

The groups are part of a 3-year plan signed at the conference.

Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang will create joint university research labs to serve industrial needs, set up vocational schools and establish shared training platforms for teachers and principals.

An alliance was established to connect universities, enterprises and industry and assist universities convert their achievements into commercial applications, stimulating innovation and serving social needs.

An academic credit bank was also unveiled for adult education organizations to recognize each other’s academic credits and enable students to pick courses from any organization in the region more easily.