Earlier in August China’s Ministry of Education announced the first 100 higher vocational colleges which will pilot modern apprenticeship projects. The colleges, which are in 17 pilot cities across China, will work with local businesses and industry associations to provide apprenticeship programmes in line with the “Opinions on Pilot Modern Apprenticeship” and “Decisions on Advancing Modern Vocational Education” issued by the Ministry of Education and the State Council respectively last year.

Modern apprenticeships are intended to merge both education and work experience, based on similar schemes in Germany and the UK. They are intended to improve employability by giving apprentices more relevant and practical work experience. Meanwhile, the Ministry is calling for expanding the enrolment autonomy of pilot institutions as well as for increasing investment through direct financial support and government procurement to actively involve more enterprises and vocational institutions in the Modern Apprenticeship development process.

The 17 cities involved in the pilot programme are Jilin and Liaoyuan of Jilin Province; Wuxi, Nantong and Changzhou of Jiangsu Province; Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou of Zhejiang Province; Jinzhou of Hubei Province; Changsha and Xiangtan of Hunan Province; Foshan and Zhongshan of Guangdong Province; Liuzhou of Guangxi autonomous region; Chengdu of Sichuan Province; Xianyang of Shaanxi Province; and Qingdao of Shandong Province. The full list of 100 higher vocational colleges, along with eight participating enterprises and 13 industry associations, can be found at the source link below (in Chinese).

Analysis by Liu Xiaoxiao, Education Services Manager and Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst:

Modern apprenticeships are supported by both the Ministry of Education and the State Council, and are likely to play an important role in China’s future vocational education strategy. These local pilot apprenticeship programmes have been developed by education authorities of pilot cities, together with the Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission. The announcement emphasised that the higher vocational colleges will be responsible for research on the pilot scheme’s effectiveness as well as implementing the programme itself.

China’s advocating strategy of developing modern apprenticeships is to engage industries and businesses in the process of vocational education to a greater extent, through integrating tailored programmes to address industry demands, as well as designing curriculums to meet occupational standards. It is expected to contribute to the introduction of a training system under modern apprenticeships along with the enhancement of training quality for technical staff.

Sources:
http://edu.people.com.cn/n/2015/0812/c367001-27451733.html