CHINA’S VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND
TRAINING: THE NEXT KEY TARGET OF
EDUCATION PROMOTION
YAN Hao
EAI Background Brief No. 516
Date of Publication: 1 April 2010
Executive Summary
1.Vocational education and training (VET) is a key component of China’s
educational system. In early 2009, the Chine government designated VET as the next key target of education promotion to answer emerging challenges from both inside and outside the educational system.
2.VET is identified as a weak area in an ideal, balanced educational structure,
after the successful 9-year compulsory education and expansion of higher education in recent years.
3.VET is also highly valued for its employment enhancing effect. Three factors
contributed to the rising need for VET: critical shortage of qualified technicians and skilled workers, mass unemployment due to the economic downturn, and high employability of vocational school graduates.
4.The current VET system in China is multi-faceted. The merit of this
complicated system is that everybody can find something to fit their specific needs. However, it also caus unwanted confusion and problems.
5.To tackle the problems the VET ctor faces, the government has adopted a
ries of policies and measures. Priority will be given to the promotion of VET at the condary level and in rural areas. Targets were t to fulfill two major tasks in the foreeable future: expanding total enrolment of VET institutions and improving the quality of education.
6.Singapore’s VET providers may find greater opportunities in expanding their
operation in China, thanks to four favorable conditions: the Chine government’s recent policy of VET promotion, reputation of Singaporeans’ experti and professionalism, fewer language barriers and the cordial relationship between China and Singapore nurtured by nior leaders of the two countries.
CHINA’S VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
THE NEXT KEY TARGET OF EDUCATION PROMOTION
YAN Hao∗
1.1In China, vocational education and training (VET) refers to technical
education and skills training provided by pre-employment programs, job transfer programs, apprentice programs, on-the-job programs and various certificate programs. According to China’s 1996 Vocational Education Law,1
VET is a key component of China’s educational system,2and an important means to promote employment, economic growth and social advancement.
1.2The Chine government has attached great importance to VET since the
founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. The 1996 Vocational Education Law and the State Council’s 2002 Decision on Vigorously Promoting the Reform and Development of VET3reprents the government’s renewed effort at supporting VET after the Cultural Revolution. In the 2005 national conference on VET, a new document, the Decision on Accelerating the Growth of VET,4was issued by the State Council as a guideline for VET development during the 11th Five-Year period (2006-2010).
1.3VET programs in China have made marked progress in recent years.
According to the Ministry of Education,5 the number of tertiary VET institutes
∗Yan Hao is Associate Rearch Fellow at the Rearch Institute of Social Development of the National Development and Reform Commission, China. He is grateful to Professor John Wong for his insight and comments in the earlier drafts of this background brief.
1The Vocational Education Law of the People's Republic of China.
2See Appendix I: China’s educational system at a glance.
3The State Council’s Decision on Vigorously Promoting the Reform and Development of Vocational
Education in China (2002) No. 16.
4The State Council’s Decision on Vigorously Promoting the Development of Vocational Education in China (2005) No 35.
5/fa_bu_hui_xin_xi_906/20090527/t20090527_380540.shtml
reached 1,184 and total enrolment reached 9 million, accounting for one third of total enrolment at 27 million in tertiary education as a whole. The number of condary VET schools reached 14,767 and total enrolment reached 20.6 million, only about 20% less than the 25.3 million in ordinary nior high schools.
1.4In his annual report to the People’s Congress in March 2009, Premier Wen
Jiabao announced that China will promote VET with greater efforts. Priority will be given to condary VET, particularly VET in rural areas. On behalf of the State Council, Zhou Ji, Minister of Education, delivered a report on VET reform and development in China on 22 April 2009 to the Standing Committee of the National Congress.6He promid to make VET a strategic center of education promotion and a key target for optimizing the educational structure.
This shift in policy is widely en as an answer to the emerging challenges from both inside and outside the educational system.
VET: A weak link in educational system
2.1VET has been identified by the Chine government as a weak area in an ideal,
balanced educational structure, after the achievement of the 9-year compulsory education and the expansion of higher education in recent years.
2.2The 9-year compulsory education program (6 years for primary education plus
3 years of lower condary education) was launched when China’s first
Compulsory Education Law took effect in 1986. The program goal was achieved by the end of the 1990s as gross enrolment ratios in primary education incread from 95.9% in 1985 to 99.5% in 2007 and in lower condary education from 36.7% to 98.0%.
2.3 A natural development after this achievement is the growing demand for
higher condary education among lower condary school graduates. In 2008,
8.4 million of 19 million junior high school leavers went to general nior high
schools in preparation for studies at universities or polytechnics, and 8.1
6The State Council’s Report on the Reform and Development of Vocational Education in China, 22 April 2009.
million went to vocational high schools in preparation for employment.
However, there were still 2.5 million young people who directly entered the workforce without any proper training in knowledge and skills.
2.4In 1999, the Chine government expanded higher education to meet the
growing need for qualified people in general, and to stimulate domestic demand in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in particular. In the following years, China has witnesd an unprecedented rapid growth in higher education. In 6 years from 2000 to 2006, for example, the number of higher educational institutions incread by 1.8 times from 1,041 to 1,867. During the same period, total undergraduate enrolment incread by 3.1 times from 5.5 million to 17.4 million, and graduate enrolment ro by 3.7 times from 0.3 million to 11.1 million. As a result, gross tertiary enrolment ratio
incread from 10.5% to 23%, indicating that China is moving from the pha of elite higher education into the pha of mass higher education.7 Nevertheless, whether the expansion has shown any positive effect on domestic demand still remains a controversial topic.
2.5With regard to VET, the recent expansion of higher education has a mixed
impact. On the one hand, VET at the tertiary level has been boosted considerably as the number of tertiary VET institutions increas and total enrolment grows. For example, the number of polytechnics and tertiary vocational institutes incread by 2.6 times from 442 in 2000 to 1,147 in 2006.
On the other hand, VET at the condary level grows relatively slowly as more and more junior high school graduates opt for general nior high schools as there is more opportunity for pursuing university studies. From 2000 to 2006, for example, the total enrolment of general nior high schools incread by
2.1 times from 12 million to 25.1 million, while that of vocational high
schools incread by only 1.5 times from 12.1 million to 18.1 million.8
7 According to Martin Trow, the transition of higher education can be divided into 3 phas by gross enrolment ratio (GER): the elite pha = GER 0-15%, the mass pha = GER 15-50%, and the universal pha = GER 50+.
8See Appendix II and appendix III.
2.6The expansion policy has not only a mixed impact but also a mixed
asssment result. Falling teaching standards and rising unemployment among
college graduates are the two most frequently mentioned side-effects. In a press conference in October 2008, an official of the Ministry of Education admitted that the 1999 policy was made to some extent prematurely, and the fast expansion of higher education so far is apparently unsustainable.9 It is
decided that the growth of freshmen enrolment will be capped at 4% in 2009
and 3% in 2010. Once the enrolment of higher educational institutions slows
down, it is natural that general nior high schools can hardly expand as fast as
before. In this situation, therefore, to promote VET with greater efforts becomes a wi choice for the government to achieve its education promotion
goals stated in the National Guidelines of Education Reform and Development.10
VET to rve employment directly
3.1VET is also highly valued for its employment enhancing effect, especially in
the current economic difficulties. Commenting on VET programs in Jiangsu, Premier Wen Jiaobao raid in early 2009 two issues relevant to tackling the
economic downturn: one is to keep economic growth from major fluctuations,
and the other is to avoid mass unemployment. He pointed out that job creation
relies not only on economic growth, but also on skills training of workers.
Therefore, VET should rve employment directly. “Serving employment directly” becomes now a guiding principle of all VET programs in China.
3.2Three factors contribute to the rising need for VET on China’s labor market:
critical shortage of qualified technicians and skilled workers, mass unemployment due to the economic downturn, and high employability of VET
school graduates.
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10An Outline of the National Medium and Long-Term Plan for Education Reform and Development in China, 2010-2010, Draft I, August, 2008.
