In this year's high-level enrollment season, vocational undergraduates have become "new stars" that have attracted much attention, and the pitch line of some colleges and universities is more than 100 points higher than the ordinary undergraduate line.
The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization" adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to accelerate the construction of a vocational education system that integrates vocational education and education.
At present, the number of vocational undergraduate schools has increased to 51. Why are vocational undergraduate colleges so sought after? What are the job prospects? How can we continue to increase our attractiveness?
Vocational undergraduate colleges become "dark horses" for admission
A few days ago, Chen Yuxuan, a candidate from Fuyang, Zhejiang Province with a score of 602 points in the college entrance examination, was admitted to Zhejiang Mechanical and Electrical Vocational and Technical University, majoring in urban rail transit equipment and control technology. At the beginning of July this year, the school had just been upgraded from a vocational college to a vocational undergraduate college.
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of high-scoring candidates like Chen Yuxuan who have applied for vocational undergraduate colleges, and the enrollment growth trend of vocational undergraduate colleges has been obvious.
In 2023, there will be 89,900 vocational undergraduate enrollments, an increase of 17.82% over the previous year, accounting for about 1.6% of the national enrollment in higher vocational education.
Shenzhen Polytechnic University is recruiting undergraduates for the second year this year, with a planned enrollment of 471 students in Guangdong, an increase of 271 over last year, and 9 new undergraduate majors. In the case of a substantial increase in the enrollment plan, the scores of all major groups in physics of the school have reached a new high.
Students majoring in intelligent manufacturing at Guangdong University of Light Industry Vocational and Technical University receive teacher guidance in the training room. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Not long ago, Guangdong Light Industry Vocational and Technical University, which was just promoted to a vocational undergraduate college, has also performed well in enrollment this year. The minimum score of the general physics class exceeds the undergraduate line by 78 points, the minimum score of the general history class exceeds the undergraduate line by 70 points, and the minimum score of the art and design class exceeds the undergraduate line by 89 points.
Zheng Bing, executive president of Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, introduced that the school began to recruit undergraduates in 2019, and the enrollment situation in the past five years has been getting better and better year by year. This year, the school was fully approved for the general category of undergraduate in Shandong Province at one time, and the minimum score of admission exceeded the undergraduate admission control line by 22 points.
From the perspective of the professional setting of vocational undergraduate colleges, most of them are closely related to the actual needs of industry enterprises and the market.
The first batch of five vocational undergraduate majors in the Civil Affairs Vocational University, which was approved not long ago, include modern funeral management and marriage service and management, aiming to cope with the rapid increase in the demand for services in the field of social and people's livelihood.
Guangdong Polytechnic University of Light Industry opened the first batch of six undergraduate majors this year: modern fine chemical technology, synthetic biotechnology, software engineering technology, mechanical and electronic engineering technology, modern logistics management, and product design. Han Baoguo, a teacher at the school's School of Finance and Trade, said that this year's modern logistics management major recruited undergraduates for the first time to train logistics project planners and logistics data analysts needed for the digital transformation of the logistics industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
"I have the education and skills"
Why is the popularity of vocational undergraduates rising?
Previously, the ceiling of vocational education was the specialty. At present, both ordinary undergraduate and vocational undergraduate degrees are authorized, awarded, managed and supervised by the quality of bachelor's degrees in accordance with the corresponding regulations; In terms of the utility of certificates, the two are of equal value and have the same effect in employment, postgraduate examinations, and public examinations.
Ms. Gu, a parent of a candidate in Guangdong, said that they did not hesitate to choose a vocational undergraduate college because they did not have to worry about finding a job and had a bachelor's degree. "To put it simply, I have the education and skills!"
The high employment rate is an important reason for the increasing attractiveness of vocational undergraduate colleges.
Mao Liangyu studied at Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, majoring in big data technology and application, in addition to theoretical knowledge learning, more practical training and enterprise internship. He said that at present, more than 90% of the 57 students in the class have signed employment agreements, and "the employment platform is very good".
Many students also choose Zhejiang Mechanical and Electrical Vocational and Technical University because they are optimistic about their employment prospects. Taking the urban rail transit equipment and control technology major of the university as an example, the employment rate of graduates has exceeded 98% in recent years, mainly for rail electromechanical equipment manufacturers such as CRRC, as well as related rail electromechanical equipment industry chain companies such as mechanical and electrical design institutes.
The 2023 undergraduate graduates of Nanjing Polytechnic University are also higher than those of their junior college graduates. Yang Jing, vice president of Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, said that from the employment situation of school graduates in the past two years, the employment quality of vocational undergraduate graduates is high and the advantages are obvious.
Paying attention to the two-way development of theory and practice is also one of the advantages.
Some people in the industry believe that the reason why some vocational undergraduates are "out of the circle" is because they focus more on professional practice and action ability training than ordinary undergraduates.
Taking the mechanical and electronic engineering technology major of Guangdong Light Industry Vocational and Technical University as an example, it focuses on the new format of service-oriented manufacturing, and pays more attention to the cultivation of "manufacturing + service" vocational ability, including R&D innovation, inspection and testing, and after-sales service.
Zhang Baochang, a teacher in charge of the school's admissions, said that the training of undergraduate professionals in the school pays more attention to the systematization of professional quality, professional knowledge and technical skills, not only so that students know how to do it, but also understand why they do it from the knowledge system.
Sun Fucai, the teaching director of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Harbin Polytechnic University, said that vocational education attaches great importance to cultivating students' ability to solve on-site problems, and has strong practicality and operation. Zhang Youneng, a teacher at the School of Mechanical and Electrical Technology of Guangdong Polytechnic University, said: "The college requires more than 50% of the curriculum system to be practical courses, which helps to form problem innovation, development innovation and cooperative innovation." ”
To accelerate the construction of a modern vocational education system, how to improve both quantity and quality?
With the continuous acceleration of industrial upgrading and economic restructuring, the demand for high-skilled personnel in all walks of life has become more urgent, and the mainland has gradually increased the training of high-level skilled personnel.
In 2021, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Modern Vocational Education", which clearly stated that by 2025, "the enrollment scale of vocational undergraduate education shall not be less than 10% of the enrollment scale of higher vocational education". This means that the enrollment scale of vocational undergraduate education will continue to expand steadily.
On May 11, at the booth of Jinan Vocational College of Jinan Shungeng International Convention and Exhibition Center, a student was experiencing the MR virtual welding training system. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Xulei
To accelerate the construction of a modern vocational education system, vocational undergraduate is an important part of it, how to ensure that both quantity and quality are improved?
Vocational undergraduates are still in the pilot exploration period, and the number of graduates is relatively small. Optimizing the training mode, strengthening the discipline construction and the integration of industry and education, and improving the level of the "dual-teacher" teacher team are the keys to ensuring the high-quality development of vocational undergraduates.
A number of interviewees said that although the current system of school setting standards and professional management measures has been introduced, the system of professional teaching standards, curriculum standards, and internship standards still needs to be further improved.
Some experts pointed out that some vocational schools tend to develop in the direction of ordinary undergraduate colleges and universities after they are upgraded, and fall into mechanized imitation. Some parents choose vocational bachelor's degree more because they value the academic level of "undergraduate" rather than vocational education itself, which makes some colleges and universities less determined to maintain "vocational attributes".
The level of integration of industry and education is the touchstone to measure the quality of vocational education. The reporter learned that a number of vocational undergraduate colleges are exploring the establishment of a city-wide industry-education consortium and an industry-education integration community jointly built by the government, industry, enterprises and schools, with talent training, teacher team construction, teaching resource library construction, vocational training and other main functions.
Zheng Bing believes that to continue to promote the high-quality employment of vocational college graduates, it is necessary to establish and improve the linkage mechanism of employment, training and enrollment, strengthen the connection between supply and demand from the source, and optimize the professional setting. On the basis of the integrated training model of industry and education, schools and enterprises should jointly formulate a talent training program for four-year undergraduate or through-training. (Xinhua News Agency)