A college-level education in transportation management was created for taxi drivers to further improve their professional competence and service quality.

The course was established by Shanghai Qiangsheng Taxi Company and Shanghai Open University, formerly known as Shanghai Television University, an open university conducting distance education and other technology-based subject courses.

In the first batch of 34 taxi drivers, most just have a high school or vocational school education background.

“Through the study here, I want to overcome the weaknesses and make more progress, especially improve my English level. In this way, I can have better communication with foreign passengers,” 41 year-old Zhu Wenlong, who has 15 years driving experience, told Labor Daily.

In addition to administrative courses, some management courses are also arranged in the two and a half year study, such as transportation safety management and service quality management, according to Labor Daily.

Contact the writer at wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn