The Present and Prospect of China’s Vocational Education

Yao ShouguangChina Center on Vocational and Technical Education Exchange

2 At present, vocational education enjoys a sound development momentum in China. The
Chinese government attaches unprecedented importance to the development of vocational
education, while the social and economic development of China has an urgent demand on
vocational education. Therefore, vocational education faces a great development opportunity in
China. The national vocational education work conference held by the State Council in 2005
marked a new development phase of the Chinese vocational education. My report today will
focus on the following aspects:1. The present of China’s vocational education 2. The prospect of
China’s vocational education

3 Ⅰ. The Present Situation of Chinese Vocational Education

Over the past 2 decades or so, the 8 years since 1998 in particular, the higher vocational
education of China experienced a rapid and steady development. As a result, China’s vocational
education has made conspicuous achievements in such aspects as quality, quantity, level,
education mode and talent fostering, etc. They are manifested mainly as follows:1. The rapidly
expanding scale of vocational education contributed significantly to the higher education
popularization of China.

4 In 2007, the number of students enrolled by the higher vocational colleges nationwide has
reached 2.99 million, 6.26 times that of 1998, while the number of students enrolled by various
secondary vocational schools amounted to 8.01million.29947.8TOTAL Enrollment Nationwide

5 The proportion of the higher vocational colleges’ enrollment to the total enrollment of both the
regular colleges and higher vocational colleges has increased from 39.8% in 1998 to 52.7% in
2007, up 12.9 percentage points. Meanwhile, the enrollment of the secondary vocational schools
accounted for 48.8% of the total enrollment of the senior high schools.52.7%39.8%Proportion of
the higher vocational education’s enrollment to the national enrollment total of the regular
colleges and higher vocational colleges

6 Number of higher vocational colleges

By the first half of 2007, the student number of the higher vocational colleges nationwide has
reached 8 million, accounting for 51.2% of the total student number of both the regular colleges
and higher vocational colleges; the number of independent higher vocational colleges has
reached 1,176, 2.7 times that in 1998, accounting for 65.6% of the total number of the general
higher learning institutions. Therefore, the higher vocational education has already accounted for
half of the higher education of China in terms of scale. In the meantime, the student number of
secondary vocational schools has reached 18.1 million.1 ,176432Number of higher vocational
colleges

7 2. Specialty setup and structural adjustment manages to suit the economic and social
development of China, which makes contribution to the acceleration of China’s
industrialization.In 2007, among the 1,176 independent higher vocational colleges, there are 540
colleges of science and engineering, accounting for 45.9%, having become a main force of the
higher vocational colleges.In 2005, the enrollment of the engineering specialties of the higher
vocational schools amounted to 1.07 million, up 34.3% year-on-year, and accounted for 40% of
the total enrollment of the higher vocational education, up 6.4% year-on-year or 14% compared
with In the past three years, the graduates of the higher vocational schools have increased by
40% every year.

8 3. Harmonious regional distribution has contributed to the balanced development of the higher
vocational colleges.So far, almost every prefecture-level city has set up 1 vocational/technical
college; and every county has set up at least 1 secondary vocational school. The distribution of
the vocational schools are quite reasonable.

9 4. Heightening social recognition leads to the constant increase of graduates’employment

rate.
Since the higher vocational colleges’ education positioning is quite accurate; their education has
its own characteristics; and their graduates’ adaptability is relatively high, they have been
recognized gradually by society and thus their graduate employment rates are increasing year by
year. In 1998, the higher vocational colleges’ graduate employment rate was only 42%; in 2003,
the figure has gone up to 55%; in 2004, despite of the increase of 320,000 graduates, the rate still
reached 61%; in 2006, the first-time employment rate has reached 70%. In such areas where the
higher vocational education enjoys relatively better development as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu,
Zhejiang and Guangdong, the employment rate of some schools have even exceeded 98%.

10 5. The development orientation has been further clarified, i. e

5. The development orientation has been further clarified, i.e. taking the development road of
integrating production, education and research.It has been clarified that the vocational education
shall, with service as the purpose and employment as the orientation, take the development path
of integrating production, education and research and foster highly-skilled talents with fine
professional ethics for the production, construction, management and service forefronts.Three
Indicative Stages:Coordination of Three Educations (clarifying the higher vocational education)
→management regularization (appraisal, guiding discipline catalogue) →connotative
construction (No. 14 and 16 documents pushing the quality project forward point by point and
part by part respectively)

11 6. Governments at various levels pays more and more attention to vocational education,
hence the ever-improving policies and measures.After entering the 21st century, the Chinese
government has held three national meetings on the vocational education, and issued three
relevant documents, i.e. Decisions on Further Promoting the Reform and Development of the
Vocational Education; Several Opinions on Further Strengthening the Vocational Education
Work; and the Decision of the State Council on Exerting Great Efforts to Develop the Vocational
Education. The three documents and other supporting documents improved the macro-policy for
the vocational education. In addition, the various local governments have also issued some
specific policies and measures to promote the vocational education’s development. They have
greatly promoted the reform and development of the higher vocational education.

12 7. The advanced demonstration higher vocational college construction has been started,
deepening the education reform constantly.In 2006, the Ministry of Education started the
advanced demonstration higher vocational college construction project. The objective of this
project is to construct 100 higher vocational colleges with distinctive characteristics, highly
recognized by society and representative of the development orientation of the higher vocational
education, and make them become domestically first-class and internationally influential bases
that provide well-trained talents for the regional economic and social development, in particular,
make them serve as demonstration schools in terms of the talent fostering mode innovation, the
integration of production, education and research, the education reform, the education resources
sharing and the international exchange and cooperation, etc to lead and push the reform and
development of the 1,176 higher vocational colleges nationwide.

13 Ⅱ. The Prospect of China’s Vocational Education

According to the tendency of China’s industrialization and modernization and the foreseeable
policy orientation of the vocational education, we envision the prospect of China’s vocational
education as follows:1. Speeding up the practice and training infrastructure construction for the
vocational education

14 The national and local governments will concentrate the financial strength on building a
considerable number of vocational education practice and training bases in order to guide the
15,000-strong higher and secondary vocational schools nationwide to conduct the employment-
oriented education reform which integrating production, education and research, drive the
construction of more than 200,000 specialties, and provide practice and training conditions for
over 20 million students nationwide. It is anticipated that a large number of national and
provincial vocational education practice and training bases which are shared by various regions
and integrate education, training, occupational skill appraisal and technical services, etc will be
in place by 2010.

15 2. The education mode will undergo significant changes.

The vocational education mode will shift to be oriented towards employment. The educational
goal will change from transmitting the theoretical knowledge to fostering the comprehensive
vocational abilities. The educational system will change from the one that “schools are the core
and the full-time education is the main part” to the one that “schools shall cooperate with
enterprises, practice elastic education system and integrate pre-service and post-service
educations”.

16 In the aspect of the educational content, the tradition of “centering on in-school courses and
stressing the disciplinary integrity” will change into the new practice of “centering on fostering
professional and core technical competencies and stressing the consistence between school
learning and work experience”. In the aspect of the certificate granting, it will change from the
single certificate system into the dual certificate system which pays equal attention to the
education credentials and occupational qualifications.

17 3. Education levels will be improved gradually.

As the regional industrialization process accelerates and the industrial technology upgrades,
which result in the demand of higher-level talents, and the type, level and structure of the higher
education adjusts and improves, the higher vocational education of China, as a type of education,
will stay basically at the level of vocational training in the near term, pilot the regular college
education in the eastern coastal areas in the mid-term, and develop all-level education in the long
term, in order to meet the needs of technically-skilled and technical application-oriented talents
in the economic and social development.
18 4. Exploring the new path of group-oriented development
The Decision of the State Council on Exerting Great Efforts to Development the Vocational
Education issued in 2005 put forward that efforts shall be made actively to drive the system
reform and innovation, and “drive the public vocational schools to integrate and restructure
resources and take the path of scale development, group-oriented and chain education”. The
government encourages cooperation among condition-favored higher vocational colleges and
between the said colleges and industries (enterprises) in actively pooling private and foreign
funds to jointly found vocational education groups of various types and with unique
characteristics.

19 5. Expanding international exchange and cooperation.

The globalization of economic development contributes to the internationalization of the higher
education. To strengthen the cooperation with foreign counterparts will become a tendency of the
vocational education in the future. The strengthening of the international exchange and
cooperation will add greatly to the international competitiveness in education. At present, the
domestic vocational education, after the initial stage of learning foreign experience alone, begins
to conduct multilateral exchange and cooperation. In the future, the exchange content and form
will further diversify.

20 China Center on Vocational and Technical Education Exchange (hereinafter referred to as the
center) will become not only an important window showcasing China’s vocational education, but
also an important platform for the foreign exchange and cooperation of China’s vocational
education. The center will actively introduce quality education resources and earnestly select
collaborators and cooperation projects, modes and contents, in an attempt to integrate the
general, distinctive and brand cooperation projects and guide China’s vocational colleges to
expand foreign exchange and cooperation.

Historically, Chinese educational philosophy has been dominated by Confucianism and, since 1949, by
Marxism. However, rapid industrialization, ideological demands, and loyalty to traditions have now led
to a situation where various Western philosophies have been adopted into vocational education in
hopes of moving the country forward without challenging the status quo too vigorously. The result is
that China presently has no clear philosophical foundation that can help the country make solid
decisions on how vocational education shall contribute to economic growth and social improvements.
Awareness of one's philosophy, however, is important for vocational educators so that they can make
well-founded decisions about their teaching. The authors hope that by presenting an overview of which
philosophies have been adopted in the past and the influence they have had on practitioners and
policymakers, scholars can engage in a debate on which vocational education philosophy can help train
China's workforce most effectively and support continued economic growth.

Over the past 40 years, China has invested a total of RMB 36.26 trillion of funding into
education, at an average annual increase of 17.1 percent. In 2016, the investment in education
was RMB 3.14 trillion, accounting for 4.24 percent of GDP. China adheres to the principle of
offering education of satisfactory quality by promoting education equity, and optimizing the
educational structure, so as to achieve leapfrog development in all types of education at all
levels. Preschool education has developed rapidly, and some areas have effectively solved the
problem of kindergarten crunch. Vocational education has seen dramatic improvement, and
private education has developed steadily. Special education and education of ethnic minorities
has also received attention.

http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/2018/sl/201906/t20190619_800171107.html
Over the past four decades, the Chinese government has put forward a range of
strategies and guiding principles, including prioritizing the development of education,
rejuvenating the country through science and technology, and education, reinvigorating
China through human resource development, developing people-centered education,
thus providing strategic guidance and motivation for the country’s education reform and
opening-up. Represented by the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China on the Reform of the Education System promulgated in 1985, China
launched the reform of the education system and mechanisms based on the socialist
market economic system. The legal system of socialist education with Chinese
characteristics was initially established and represented by the Regulations on
Academic Degrees, Compulsory Education Law, Higher Education Law, Teachers Law,
and Vocational Education Law.

In December 1978, China sent the first batch of 52 Chinese students financially sponsored by
the government to study in the United States, ushering in a new age for China in its educational
reform and opening-up. China then began to send students on a large scale to developed
countries for study. In 1984, the state promulgated the policy of studying abroad at students’
own expense. The number of students studying abroad increased by more than 50 percent the
following year, with the number totaling 5,000. In 1992, the central government introduced the
policy for studying abroad of “supporting students and scholars studying abroad, encouraging
them to return to China upon completion of their studies, and guaranteeing them the freedom of
returning or not.” With China’s accession to the WTO in 2001, the following year saw the
number of Chinese students studying abroad at their own expense exceed 100,000. Since
2010, the growth rate of self-funded students has begun to slow down. In 2016, the number of
students studying abroad reached 544,500, with middle-class families being the main driving
force. The total number of returned students reached 432,500 in 2016, accounting for 80
percent of the students studying abroad. The growth rate of returnees exceeded that of those
leaving for study abroad for the first time.
Over the past 70 years, China’s education system has gone through a glorious but difficult
transformation. It mainly has had two important historical periods of restoration and exploration
of educational undertakings during the period of socialist construction from 1949 to 1978 and
reform and development of socialist education with Chinese characteristics after the reform and
opening-up in 1978.
In the past 70 years, especially since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China’s education has
made great historic achievements, transforming a large country with the illiteracy rate at 80
percent into a country rich in talents, and also converting the huge population burden into the
human resources advantage that strongly supports the country’s reform and opening-up. China
aims to achieve educational modernization by 2035, with easy access to quality education from
kindergarten to university, moving towards becoming a human resource power and an
innovative power.

Leapfrog Progress in China’s Education

2019-06-19

Source：China TodayAuthor：By LIU FUXING

China announces major reform to vocational education sector

(Information as at March 2019)

On 13 February 2019, the Chinese State Council published its “Implementation plan on National Vocational
Education Reform” (in Chinese), signalling a significantly strengthened focus on vocational education, which was
reinforced in early March 2019 by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.  In his 2019 Government Work Report, Premier Li
announced the transfer of 100 billion RMB (20 billion AUD) in funding from the unemployment insurance fund into
vocational training to support 15 million people to upgrade their skills.

The plan prioritises reform of vocational education in China to better equip the labour force to meet the demands of
the economy now and into the future.  It contains 7 priority objectives and 20 detailed actions.  A high level summary
of the plan and an unofficial translation of the objectives are included below.

In 2018, China had 26.9 million total vocational education students and annual commencements of 9.3 million. [1] The
proposed reform of the vocational education sector follows a reported decline in China’s labour force over recent
years – largely due to China’s well publicised aging population. China’s working age population shrank by almost 3 %
between 2011 and 2018, and accounts for around 65% of China’s 1.4 billion population. [2] This percentage is
estimated to further reduce to 57% in 2030. [3] The reform plan is also quite timely in the lead up to Shanghai playing
host to the World Skills Competition 2021.

Key points of the plan

The plan seeks to raise the status of vocational education - an attempt to eradicate a common mindset that
vocational education is a “second choice” to an academic degree.
Through the plan, China is seeking to reform its entire vocational education framework, including occupational
standards, assessment and evaluation mechanisms, teacher training & recruitment, and industry engagement. The
State Council will establish a National Vocational Education Steering Committee (non-official translation of “国家职业
教育指导咨询委员会”) to oversee the reform.

China’s vocational education system will transform from having a “quantity focus” to a “quality focus, with greater
importance being placed on teaching quality.  In 2018, China had 1.3 million teaching staff at vocational institutions,
of which fewer than 40% were reported to have both the practical work experience and teaching skills required for
their field. The plan seeks to increase the proportion of teachers who have at least 3 years work experience in
industry and a 3 year vocational diploma.  A part-time employment mechanism for professional experts will also be
introduced.  From 2020, teaching positions for specific courses at VET institutes and applied universities will
generally not be open to new graduates.
https://internationaleducation.gov.au/News/Latest-News/Pages/China-announces-majer-reform-
to-vocational-education-sector.aspx
Australian Government