Vocational undergraduate, what to study and how to learn?

On April 23, students majoring in automobile inspection and maintenance technology of Hebei University of Science and Technology Engineering were taking a practical class of "Automobile Body Repair Technology". Photo by Hebei Daily correspondent Zhang Peipei

Hebei Daily reporter Wang Jingzhao correspondent Zhou Hongsong

The development of vocational undergraduate education is an important part of building a modern vocational education system that integrates vertically and horizontally and improving the modern education system with Chinese characteristics. Since 2019, the construction of vocational undergraduates in China has entered the fast lane, and Hebei accounts for 3 of the 33 newly established vocational and technical universities.

Compared with higher vocational colleges, what are the differences between vocational undergraduates in terms of personnel training mode and evaluation criteria? Will it become an extended version of higher vocational colleges or a reproduction version of ordinary undergraduates? With the questions of some students and parents, this reporter visited three vocational undergraduate schools, Hebei University of Industry and Technology, Hebei University of Science and Technology and Engineering and Hebei Petroleum Vocational and Technical University, to explore the characteristics and advantages of vocational undergraduate education.

Vocational undergraduate is not an extended version of a higher vocational college or a duplicate version of an ordinary undergraduate

On the afternoon of April 16, Hebei Petroleum Vocational and Technical University held a special report on "Vocational Undergraduate Majors and Curriculum Construction under the Inspiration of Singapore's Vocational Education", Han Yanlong, deputy director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Hu Zhubing, deputy director of the Department of Electrical and Electronics, combined with what they learned during their study in Singapore, shared the advanced experience of Singapore's vocational education from the aspects of vocational education system, professional construction measures, curriculum system setting, curriculum standard development, teaching organization and implementation, and put forward suggestions for the construction of vocational undergraduate majors and courses in the school.

The cultivation of undergraduate talents, for these three vocational schools, is to cross the river by feeling the stones. Since it was upgraded to a vocational and technical university in January 2021, they have gone out and brought in to actively explore new models for the cultivation of vocational undergraduate talents through various ways.

To explore the new mode of vocational undergraduate talent training, we must first solve the problem of the training goal of vocational undergraduate talents.

Vocational college education aims to cultivate industrial talents engaged in a certain link in production, while vocational undergraduate education is positioned to cultivate compound technical and skilled talents, which mainly meets the high-end needs of high-end industries and docking industries. This positioning is also different from ordinary undergraduate education based on the development of disciplines and cultivating academic talents.

"The essence of the training goal of vocational undergraduate talents is that the knowledge level of students is not lower than that of ordinary undergraduates, and the level of technical skills is not lower than that of higher vocational colleges. In the end, what we should strive to achieve is to promote the organic integration of 'vocational' and 'academic' for high-end positions. Xue Xiaoping, president of Hebei University of Industry and Technology, said.

In fact, the purpose of the state to set up vocational undergraduates, in addition to breaking the "ceiling" of vocational education and allowing students to have more choices of undergraduate education, more importantly, in the context of the new generation of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, to provide high-quality talents for the mainland's economic and social transformation and development and industry towards the middle and high end of the global value chain.

Based on this, when formulating their respective talent training programs, the three vocational and technical universities in Hebei invariably took "fine operation, understanding technology, management, good cooperation, and innovation" as the key words of the vocational undergraduate talent training goal, which is also the national implementation of the "special training plan for field engineers" in the requirements of training specifications.

The training goal is determined, how to formulate the talent training program, and it is determined according to the needs of enterprise transformation and upgrading, the ability needs of high-end positions and the needs of students' all-round development.

The three schools also dynamically adjusted and revised their talent training programs. At the end of 2023, Hebei University of Science and Technology and Engineering Vocational and Technical University reorganized and revised 16 sets of vocational undergraduate professional talent training programs. Among them, these five key words of culture specifications were emphasized.

Adhere to the docking of Hebei and Beijing-Tianjin industrial systems, adhere to the integration of industry and education, school-enterprise cooperation, and adhere to the "theory and practice one-to-one, skills and quality of the double main line...... In January this year, the Provincial Department of Education issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Formulation and Implementation of the Vocational Undergraduate Professional Talent Training Program (Trial)", which provides an institutional guarantee for the high-quality development of vocational undergraduate education.

Explore a new model of integrated education of "post-course, competition, certificate, research and innovation".

From April 13th to 14th, the 2024 Hebei Vocational College Skills Competition (Higher Vocational Group) e-commerce competition was successfully held. A total of 35 teams of 140 players participated in the competition, and after competition, the team composed of Liu Jinchao, Guo Zhenpu, Gao Bai Hanmeng and Che Hanyu, students majoring in e-commerce of the Department of Economics and Management of Hebei University of Science and Technology and Engineering, won the first prize.

The logical starting point of talent training in vocational undergraduate education is not discipline-oriented, but career-oriented, and practice and ability training are emphasized in all aspects of education and teaching. Among them, actively guiding students to participate in various skills competitions at the national, provincial, municipal and school levels is an important part.

After the upgrade, whether the original faculty will be able to teach undergraduates, and whether the university will be able to achieve the goal of cultivating undergraduates, it is difficult not to become doubts in people's minds.

What to do?

Intensify the introduction of high-level teachers and the use of high-level talents in enterprises, and explore a new model of integrated education of "post course competition certificate research and innovation" (integration of post standards, vocational skills competition content, key points of vocational certificates, technology research and development achievements, innovation quality requirements, and strengthening the construction of vocational undergraduate professional courses), which has become the common choice of the three vocational and technical universities in Hebei.

Since the establishment of vocational undergraduate education, Hebei University of Science and Technology and Engineering has focused on building an "expert double teacher" team that matches vocational undergraduate education. Liu Caiqin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the school, introduced that on the one hand, it hires leading talents from domestic and foreign industry enterprises as discipline leaders, flexibly introduces well-known experts, great craftsmen, skill masters, etc., sets up master studios, doctoral studios, and sets up special positions such as skill professors, so as to gather high-end talents and technical skills innovation in scientific and technological research. On the other hand, establish a two-way flow mechanism for high-level talents between schools and enterprises, build a high-level school-enterprise mixed team, and let skilled craftsmen and technical experts enter the classroom. At the same time, relying on enterprise teacher training bases, technology research institutes and other industry-education integration platforms, to improve teachers' engineering practice ability.

Hebei Petroleum Vocational and Technical University introduces two types of high-level talents: doctoral students and high-skilled talents full-time according to the actual demand and professional shortage.

"At present, we have introduced 87 talents, including 39 doctors and 1 technician with outstanding contributions in Hebei Province. These talents introduced solve the formal career establishment, and implement low-level and high-level hiring. Yu Liguo, president of Hebei Petroleum Vocational and Technical University, said that on this basis, they cooperate with schools and enterprises to compile teaching materials, develop supporting resources, and extend classroom teaching to enterprise practice, run the profession in the industrial chain, and integrate new technologies, new methods and new skills into talent training programs and practical teaching systems.

Education and teaching need to highlight the "pre-position" consciousness, and should be closely connected with the actual production and the needs of enterprises.

In view of the training goal of vocational undergraduate talents, the structure of professional courses is determined, and the elements of "post-course, competition, certificate, research and innovation" are integrated into the curriculum construction in the whole process; the relationship between discipline inheritance, technology development and job demand is handled, and the basic professional courses are reconstructed by schools and enterprises; the core courses of majors are developed in a modular way by docking high-end positions; the training objectives of on-site engineers are connected to increase the proportion of research-based learning and innovative learning......

Nowadays, in the three vocational and technical universities in Hebei, a new model of integrated education of "post-course, competition, certificate, research and innovation" has been basically formed to adapt to the development of vocational undergraduate majors and the cultivation of undergraduate talents.

Let students have fire in their chests, skills in their hands, light in their eyes, and smiles on their faces

Feel the responsibility of a great country and pay tribute to the model worker. On March 26th, the "Women's Model Worker Craftsman Lecture" walked into Hebei Vocational and Technical University of Industry, allowing students to listen to the deeds of role models up close, feel the demeanor of model workers, and stimulate their strong enthusiasm for taking responsibility, striving for excellence and pioneering and serving the country with skills.

The combination of moral skills and knowledge and action is an inevitable requirement and path to achieve the goal of vocational undergraduate talent training.

In recent years, Hebei University of Industry and Technology has been selected as a pilot university for the comprehensive reform of "three comprehensive education" and a pilot university for the comprehensive management of student communities of the Ministry of Education.

The other two colleges and universities have also cultivated students to practice the core values of socialism through their own unique measures, comprehensively promoted the implementation of the "five educations simultaneously" in various fields of talent training, and organically integrated the feelings of family and country, professionalism and craftsman spirit into the whole chain and process of talent training.

The three schools also focus on building a platform for students to grow and become talents, and creating opportunities for them to achieve youthful brilliance.

As the second batch of national-level maker spaces, the Yumi maker space jointly built by Hebei University of Industry and Technology and Shijiazhuang Yingtuo E-commerce Co., Ltd. has formed a double innovation pattern of "overall deployment of schools, in-depth participation of industry enterprises, and joint implementation of schools, enterprises and governments". At present, the occupancy rate of the maker space is nearly 98%, a total of 35 enterprises have been incubated, including 7 college students have started their own businesses, 45 scientific and technological achievements have been transferred, more than 5,000 students have been served, and more than 100 college students have been successfully helped to start their own businesses.

"There are more than 20 students in our team, among whom Lu Jiahe is participating in the provincial land planning research project, and Gong Yanchao and several other students are carrying out land and resources management supervision with the Provincial Department of Natural Resources. On the fifth floor of Hebei Dezan Land Planning Consulting Co., Ltd., Li Ziliang, general manager, was full of praise for the participating students.

It is understood that Hebei University of Industry and Technology has set up a "technological innovation experimental class" to cultivate high-quality talents who can quickly become the development of enterprises with the concept of "expanding horizons, strengthening capabilities, and emphasizing innovation" and the "professional + N" model.

"Let our students have fire in their chests, skills in their hands, light in their eyes, and smiles on their faces. The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Department of Education said that vocational undergraduate education should adhere to the fundamental task of cultivating morality, cultivate students' sense of professional identity, cultivate family and national conditions, and serve the country.

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