China is experiencing an unprecedented phenomenon: breakneck industrialization on a scale and at a pace not seen before. It is trying to achieve in just a few decades what Western nations took more than a century to do. The arrival in the country’s cities of tens of millions of rural dwellers, at most semi-skilled, has put huge strain on the country’s system of vocational education, known as TVET. How have the Chinese authorities and their education administrators responded? Is China’s TVET system adapting to the rapidly evolving needs of its industry? Using the province of Yunnan as a subject, this detailed case study is a closely argued and sanguine analysis of the operation of TVET in China. The authors deployed a set of internationally comparable criteria to offer a searching assessment of current performance, at the same time documenting areas of strength and weakness. The question the authors’ methodology answers is how well China’s TVET system is performing compared to technical and vocational education structures in other countries. In fact, they discover that in Yunnan, a province representative of the challenges faced nationwide, much has indeed been done, from a wholesale overhaul of programs to make them relevant to industry requirements, to major investment in infrastructure. Teacher training has been reformed, and take-up of professional master’s and doctoral courses has been encouraged. Joint initiatives with bodies such as UNESCO have improved training and vocational education at high school level. While there is a strong international history of such comparative evaluations, which are essential for policy makers to benchmark their administration, few studies have included China despite the enormous amount of value that can be learned from that country’s experience. This work will provide vital material for researchers, governments and development agencies alike.

Based on the international comparison of vocational education in major countries and regions, this book revisits and reappraises China’s vocational education in terms of its institutional advantages and recent outstanding performance. For a long time, vocational education in China has been undervalued among the public, and students in vocational schools are also underrated as academic failures. Drawing on the empirical methods and data of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the author compares vocational education across theglobe, including Germany, Austria and those with traditional high-performing vocational education systems, as well as China, Japan, South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries. The results show that Chinese vocational school students performed well, especially exhibiting competency in adapting to transforming requirements for labor force in an intelligent era. The book also presents the policy achievements of vocational education in promoting equity in China. It aims to reshape the public’s understanding of the competency development of students in vocational schools and give insights into promoting curriculum reform. The book will appeal to scholars and students of vocational education, education policy, Chinese education and PISA and also policymakers and practitioners of vocational education.

The report finds that despite world-leading academic performance in Shanghai schools, educational opportunities and outcomes across the country remain highly uneven. With the largest population in the world, and now the world's second largest economy, China will need a more skilled and productive labor force to break free from its current reliance on a low-cost, low-skill manufacturing for export economic model, according to the researchers. To address the shortage in high-skill workers, Chinese policy makers are designing a new approach to human capital, including a major focus on developing a modern vocational education and training system. Standing in the way of those ambitious plans are substantial challenges facing China's VET system, as identified by the CIEB research team, including: The curriculum design of VET programs is narrow; Connections to industry are weak; VET has low status in the public mind; Structural barriers exist between vocational education and academic education; A mismatch exists between the needs of employers and the capabilities of graduates; VET faculty have limited experience in industry; Occupational standards and qualifications systems need development; Adult education is underdeveloped; and Bureaucracy of VET hampers innovation. [Executive summary, ed]

China has the largest population and largest labor force in the world. It has been highly successful in rapidly expanding both secondary and higher education to a significant fraction of the youth cohort. However, educational opportunities and standards across China are highly uneven. China has abundant labor power, but it will need a far more skilled and productive labor force to meet its goals of developing an advanced, high-income economy and society. China is therefore now designing a new approach to human capital, including a major focus on developing a modern vocational education and training (VET) system. This report is part of an international comparative study of vocational and technical education systems undertaken by the Center on International Education Benchmarking (CIEB) of the U.S.-based National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE). It builds on NCEE's long track record of analyzing the critical connections between education and economic growth. According to human capital theory, knowledge and skills have become the most important force driving modern economies. Therefore, countries are investing increasing amounts of their GDP in education. Many countries have focused on expanding higher education to increasing segments of the age cohort while vocational education and training, often associated with an older industrial era, has been relatively neglected. But slow economic growth, high unemployment, including among college graduates, and rising inequality has made developing a modern VET system--as a vehicle for meaningful career preparation for a more demanding labor market--an issue of increasing urgency around the globe. This CIEB international study, which also includes case studies of Australia, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States as well as China, is an effort to assess what are the world's best practices in vocational and technical education in the 21st century. This case study of China is the result of several visits to China in 2013 and 2014 by the study team of Marc Tucker, Vivien Stewart, Betsy Brown Ruzzi and Nancy Hoffman. This study examines the success of China's unique dual-track, export-led economy from 1978 until 2009 and explains where the skills came from to build this economic juggernaut. It describes the turning point it now faces and the reasons China's economic model going forward will require far higher levels of skill and productivity. This is the context in which China is trying to develop a modern VET system. The author compares China's current vocational education and training system to the best practices of the world's most advanced systems to which it aspires. While it is found that the VET system is lacking in many respects, China's recent history has shown that when it decides to tackle a problem, it has the determination and drive to accomplish it.

This review assesses the main challenges facing the vocational education and training system in China and presents a package of policy recommendations.

"Based on the international comparison of vocational education in major countries and regions, this book revisits and reappraises China's vocational education in terms of its institutional advantages and recent outstanding performance. For a long time, vocational education in China is undervalued among the public and students in vocational schools are also underrated as academic failures. Drawing on the empirical methods and data of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the author compares vocational education across the globe, including Germany, Austria and those with traditional high-performing vocational education systems, as well as China, Japan, South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries. The results show that Chinese vocational school students performed well, especially exhibiting competency in adapting to transforming requirements for labour force in an intelligent era. The book also presents the policy achievements of vocational education in promoting equity in China. It aims to reshape the public's understanding of the competency development of students in vocational schools and give insights into promoting curriculum reform. The book will appeal to scholars and students of vocational education, education policy, Chinese education and PISA and also policymakers and practitioners of vocational education"--