Revised Vocational Education Law

Chinese government has recently issued a revised version of the country’s Vocational Education Law which took effect on 1^st May.  The revised law clarifies definitions, development goals and promotion approaches for the vocational education sector and states that vocational education should have the same importance as general education. Meanwhile in another related policy the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Education have jointly issued a set of “Guiding Opinions on Promoting Quality Development of Culture and Art Vocational Education in the New Era”, aimed at improving vocational education in subjects related to art and culture.

One key change compared to previous regulations is that higher vocational institutions, which had previously offered programmes at the 3-year diploma level (roughly equivalent to HNDs in the UK), may be given approval to offer degree-level vocational courses. These will be in subjects where the institution has distinctive characteristics and offers a high quality of training, in order to promote high-end technical skills and talents that promote in-depth integration of industry and education.

Priority areas include:

• Emerging fields needed by advanced manufacturing and other social development priorities.
• Vocational education for rural areas including agricultural skills training and entrepreneurship training. Vocational education in remote areas and underdeveloped areas will also be further promoted.
• Cultivation of technical professionals in the areas of childcare, nursing, health care and housekeeping.

The revised law also calls for the country to establish methods for the certification, accumulation and conversion of credits, qualifications and other learning outcomes in vocational education at all levels. A national credit bank is to be developed to facilitate credit transfer.

Improvement of the teaching force continues to be another key policy addressed by the law. Key policies include the establishment of specialized teacher training colleges and universities for vocational education; support for higher education institutions to set up relevant majors for vocational education teachers; engagement of industry enterprises to contribute to the training of vocational teachers; and the establishment of a comprehensive evaluation system for vocational teachers

Policy guidance on vocational education in art and culture

Another major recent policy in this sector, the Guiding Opinions on Promoting Quality Development of Culture and Art Vocational Education in the New Era, focuses on vocational education in art and culture related fields. This policy aims to develop specialist vocational education institutions and characteristic subjects in these areas at secondary vocational school, vocational college and higher vocational education levels, including vocational bachelor’s degrees, by 2025. Industrial support is also encouraged to help develop model institutions, subject groups and industrial training bases. Vocational institutions and general undergraduate institutions (universities) are encouraged to jointly develop training programmes in culture and art subjects, while higher vocational institutions may set up undergraduate programmes in this area if they meet certain requirements. 

Other policies announced in this guidance include promotion of digital transformation in the culture and art sectors, and integrating vocational education and talent training with emerging industrial business and occupations including tourism and performing arts, art design, cultural creativity, digital culture and online broadcasting etc. Assessment methods should be improved while at least 10 relevant skill certificates should be developed.

As with the broader vocational education law, the policy on art and cultural fields calls for an improvement of teaching standards. This includes an expansion of the number of part-time teaching staff who also work in relevant industries as well as exploration of new teaching methods such as project-based teaching, modular teaching, and the use of new technology such as blockchain, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, big data and 5G.

Partnership and collaboration

Partnership and collaboration continues to be encouraged by both the revised vocational education law and the recent policy on vocational education in the art and culture sectors. Both call for cooperation between vocational institutions, industry and public institutions in relevant areas, through channels such as resource sharing, joint research, development of training materials, and an apprenticeship system. Vocational institutions in the art and culture field are encouraged to cooperate with enterprises in film and television, performing arts, media, design, and Internet culture to develop content production.

While the vocational education law does not directly address international cooperation, the policy on vocational education in the art and cultural field specifically calls for support towards international joint training, mutual recognition of credits or cooperative education with overseas high-level art institutions. This includes the expansion of Chinese schools overseas, teaching both Chinese language and vocational skills, and the recruitment of outstanding overseas students to study in China. It also calls for supporting qualified vocational institutions to cultivate international art education exchange and cooperation mechanisms, incubate brand projects, and strengthen the promotion of Chinese culture.

British Council Analysis

The new vocational education law has reemphasized the importance for vocational education, which is aligned with the education development goals stated in Ministry of Education key priorities 2022 – to support the development of vocational education at different levels through integration of industry and education, social investment or jointly organization. Relevant institutions will likely continue to have an appetite for cooperation in areas that match with Chinese industrial and social development needs such as advanced manufacturing, big health, social services, and agricultural technology, as well as in remote or underdeveloped areas. As the government is also promoting the training for vocational teachers, a mutual resources sharing for teacher training and teaching materials development can also be considered.

The policy on vocational education in art and culture fields aligns with the overall policy to promote modern vocation education issued last October. The specific support for international cooperation in this area suggests more opportunities for UK institutions and organizations develop joint programmes or training courses in relevant fields, especially around emerging cultural and artistic business; exchange in teachers and students as well as innovative digital solutions are also welcome to Chinese institutions.  

Sources:

2022 revised vocational education law:

http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_zcfg/zcfg_jyfl/202204/t20220421_620064.html

Guiding Opinions on Promoting Quality Development of Culture and Art Vocational Education in the New Era:

http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2022-04/25/content_5687005.htm