BY CN-VE Institute
This report aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of the distribution of majors in Chinese higher vocational colleges and their dynamic evolution. The study finds that China has built the world’s largest vocational education system, and its major offerings are undergoing profound structural adjustments to highly adapt to national economic transformation and industrial upgrading needs. The dynamic updating mechanism of the major catalog ensures close alignment between talent cultivation and the modern industrial system, especially with significant growth in majors oriented towards new quality productive forces, advanced manufacturing, and strategic emerging industries. Meanwhile, vocational education is also actively responding to urgent talent needs in livelihood areas such as elderly care and childcare. Despite regional imbalances in resource distribution, the government has begun to promote balanced development of vocational education through policy guidance and resource allocation. The high employment rate of higher vocational college graduates and their salary advantages in key industrial sectors further demonstrate the good match between major offerings and market demands, highlighting the core role of vocational education in supporting national economic and social development.
1. Introduction: Overview of China’s Higher Vocational Education System
1.1 Current Scale and Development Status of Higher Vocational Education
China’s higher vocational education system has achieved remarkable development in recent years, becoming an important component of the national education system and playing a pivotal role in talent cultivation and labor market supply. As of June 20, 2024, there are 1,560 higher vocational (specialized) schools nationwide, belonging to a total of 2,868 regular institutions of higher learning. Compared with 1,547 higher vocational (specialized) schools in 2023, the number of higher vocational schools increased by 33 in one year, reflecting the country’s continuous increase in investment in vocational education.
In terms of enrollment scale, the expansion trend of higher vocational education is particularly evident. In 2023, the enrollment of higher vocational (specialized) programs reached 5.6794 million (excluding 602,200 students transferring from five-year programs), with a total enrollment of 17.6466 million. This figure is significantly higher than the enrollment scale of 5.57 million in 2021 and has exceeded the enrollment of regular undergraduate programs for three consecutive years. This continuous growth, especially the enrollment exceeding that of regular undergraduate programs, indicates that the country is strategically strengthening the cultivation of skilled talents to meet the urgent needs of modernization for technical and skilled personnel. This policy-oriented strengthening has directly promoted the core position of vocational education in the labor market.
The contribution of higher vocational college graduates to the labor market is increasingly prominent. In 2023, the total number of graduates from various vocational schools (including secondary and higher vocational schools) exceeded 10.94 million. Among them, the proportion of higher vocational college graduates in the newly employed urban population has steadily increased, breaking through from 30% in 2020 to 40% in 2022, and reaching 44.77% in 2023. In addition, more than 70% of frontline new employees in modern manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, and modern service industries come from vocational schools. These data indicate that vocational education is not only expanding in quantity, but its cultivated talents are also becoming a key force supporting China’s economic transformation and upgrading, providing a continuous supply of technical and skilled personnel for emerging industries and key fields. China has established the world’s largest vocational education system, which is not only an achievement in scale but also reflects the country’s strategic determination to regard human capital development as the cornerstone of economic transformation. This vast and adaptable system is crucial for China to maintain competitiveness in global manufacturing and promote the economy towards higher value-added industries.
Table 1: Overview of China’s Higher Vocational Education (Key Statistics 2021-2024)
| Indicator | 2021 | 2023 | 2024 (as of June 20) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Higher Vocational (Specialized) Institutions | 1,486 | 1,547 | 1,560 |
| Total Number of Regular Institutions of Higher Learning | 2,868 | 3,119 | 2,868 |
| Higher Vocational (Specialized) Enrollment (10,000) | 552.58 | 567.94 | – |
| Higher Vocational (Specialized) Enrollment (10,000) | 1,590.10 | 1,764.66 | – |
| Total Number of Vocational School Graduates (10,000) | 1,000+ | 1,094 | – |
| Proportion of Higher Vocational Graduates in New Urban Employment | – | 44.77% | – |
Note: Some data may have slight fluctuations due to different years or statistical calibers. The data in the table aims to present the overall trend.
1.2 Evolution and Significance of Vocational Education Major Catalog
As a foundational document guiding major setting, curriculum development, and talent cultivation, the revision and dynamic management of the vocational education major catalog are crucial for ensuring that vocational education adapts to economic and social development. In 2021, the Ministry of Education comprehensively revised the “Vocational Education Major Catalog,” which was an important measure under the new requirements proposed by the 14th Five-Year Plan and 2035 long-term goals for vocational education.
The new catalog uniformly adopted a three-level classification system of major categories, major classes, and specific majors, and integrated the design of majors at different levels including secondary vocational education, higher vocational education (specialized), and higher vocational education (undergraduate). This catalog set up 19 major categories, 97 major classes, and 1,349 specific majors, including 744 higher vocational education (specialized) majors and 247 higher vocational education (undergraduate) majors. The adjustment range of this revision was huge, with the adjustment range of higher vocational (specialized) majors reaching 56.4%, demonstrating the government’s determination to optimize major layout and promote major upgrading.
The deep consideration behind this catalog revision was to improve the adaptability of vocational education, actively connect with the modern industrial system, and serve the advancement of industrial foundation and the modernization of industrial chains. The previous catalogs were compiled separately and had long update cycles, which could no longer fully adapt to the rapidly changing economic and social development needs. Therefore, the launch of the new catalog aimed to build an education system serving lifelong learning for all, and promote clearer training objectives, interconnected teaching content and evaluation at all levels of technical and skilled personnel. This unified and dynamically updated major catalog is not only an academic classification but also a dynamic policy tool aimed at guiding and shaping industrial development direction through talent supply. It ensures that vocational education can continuously adjust talent training direction according to the evolution of the national economic strategy, thereby directly supporting the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure.
In addition, the integrated design of secondary vocational, higher vocational (specialized), and higher vocational (undergraduate) majors in the catalog indicates that China’s vocational education is developing towards a more coherent and flexible talent training path. This design helps students achieve smoother connection between different levels, such as the broadening of “specialized-to-undergraduate” channels, providing students with diverse paths for growth and talent development, enhancing the attractiveness of vocational education, and building a more perfect multi-level technical and skilled personnel training system.
2. Current Pattern of Major Distribution
2.1 Structure and Classification of Higher Vocational Major Catalog in 2021
The “Vocational Education Major Catalog” released in 2021 laid a new foundation for the major setting of China’s higher vocational education. This catalog constructed a clear three-level classification system including major categories, major classes, and specific majors, providing both macro and micro guidance framework for major setting.
Specifically, the catalog covers 19 major categories, such as “Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery” (Major Category 41) and “Resources, Environment and Safety” (Major Category 42). Under these major categories, they are subdivided into 97 major classes, and 1,349 specific majors are set at the finest level. Taking “Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery” as an example, it includes “Agriculture” (4101), which is further subdivided into specific majors such as “Seed Production and Operation” (410101) and “Crop Production and Management” (410102). For higher vocational (specialized) education, the catalog contains 744 independent majors.
The establishment of this three-level classification system provides a structured and flexible framework for vocational education major setting. It allows strategic planning at the macro level (such as determining which major categories to prioritize) while also enabling precise adjustment at the micro level (such as adding or canceling a specific major), thus being able to quickly respond to technological changes and talent needs in specific industrial fields. This well-designed structure enables major setting to maintain overall stability while possessing agile adaptability to emerging fields and technological changes. In addition, the catalog achieves unity in major design across different vocational education levels (secondary vocational, higher vocational specialized, higher vocational undergraduate), which helps build a coherent talent training chain, ensuring the connection and accumulation of skills learned by students at different stages, thus providing a clearer and complete path for the growth of technical and skilled personnel.
Table 2: Structure of 2021 Vocational Education Major Catalog
| Classification Level | Quantity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Major Categories | 19 | Covering major industrial fields such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, resources, environment and safety, etc. |
| Major Classes | 97 | Subdivisions under each major category |
| Total Majors | 1,349 | Sum of all majors in secondary vocational, higher vocational specialized, and higher vocational undergraduate |
| Higher Vocational Specialized Majors | 744 | Majors for specialized-level vocational education |
| Higher Vocational Undergraduate Majors | 247 | Majors for undergraduate-level vocational education |
2.2 Recent Dynamics in Major Setting: Addition, Cancellation and Adjustment
The major setting of China’s higher vocational colleges presents characteristics of high activity and dynamic adjustment to continuously optimize major structure and respond to industrial development and labor market changes. In 2024, higher vocational education (specialized) majors underwent large-scale adjustment, with 6,068 new major points added and 5,052 major points cancelled. This adjustment range was the largest since the release of the new vocational education major catalog in 2021, with the total number of proposed enrollment major points reaching 66,870.
This annual addition and cancellation of thousands of major points indicates that the vocational education system is not passively responding to market changes but actively adjusting according to national industrial development priorities and talent needs. For example, while the overall policy emphasizes elderly care services, individual institutions may suspend enrollment in majors such as “Smart Health Elderly Care Services and Management” based on their regional characteristics or resource constraints, while adding majors such as “Infant and Child Care Services and Management” and “Modern Secretarial Studies”. This subtle difference between local adjustment and overall policy orientation reflects the fine-tuning conducted by various institutions according to regional economy and their own characteristics under the guidance of national macro policies.
Such large-scale major adjustment reflects the strong adaptability and proactivity of the vocational education system. This is not only simple quantitative increase or decrease but also continuous optimization of major connotation, curriculum system and talent training model. This dynamic management mechanism is precisely to ensure that vocational education can closely connect with constantly changing industrial needs and improve the precision of talent training. However, frequent major adjustment also puts forward higher requirements for vocational colleges, especially in terms of teacher team construction, curriculum system reconstruction and practical training resource allocation. For example, to adapt to the opening of new majors, a large number of “dual-qualified” teachers with industry experience and teaching ability are needed. The continuous change of major setting makes vocational colleges must constantly invest resources in teacher training and curriculum updating to ensure that teaching quality can keep up with the pace of industrial development.
Table 3: Annual Adjustment of Higher Vocational Major Setting (2024)
| Indicator | Quantity | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| New Major Points | 6,068 | Number of new higher vocational education (specialized) majors in 2024 |
| Cancelled Major Points | 5,052 | Number of cancelled higher vocational education (specialized) majors in 2024 |
| Total Proposed Enrollment Major Points | 66,870 | Total number of proposed enrollment major points in 2024 |
| Adjustment Range | Largest since 2021 new catalog release | Indicates significantly increased efforts in major structure optimization |
3. Analysis of Major Distribution Trends
3.1 Most Popular and Favored Majors: Characteristics and Internal Driving Factors
The major distribution of China’s higher vocational colleges clearly reflects the current direction of industrial structure transformation and labor market demand priorities. According to the 2024 report, among the 738 higher vocational (specialized) enrollment majors, the top ten most popular majors with the largest number of institutions offering them include: Big Data and Accounting, E-commerce, Big Data Technology, Mechatronics Technology, Tourism Management, Marketing, Software Technology, Industrial Robot Technology, New Energy Vehicle Technology, and Modern Logistics Management.
These popular majors show obvious growth trends. Among them, majors related to information technology and intelligent manufacturing such as Big Data Technology, Software Technology, and Mechatronics Technology have particularly significant growth rates. This directly reflects the direction of China’s economic transformation towards digitalization, intelligence, and high-endization. In contrast, two traditional service industry majors, Tourism Management and Marketing, have experienced negative growth for two consecutive years. This phenomenon of growth and decline is not accidental but a direct reflection of the strategic transformation of China’s economic structure from labor-intensive or traditional service industries to technology-intensive manufacturing and high value-added modern service industries. This transformation is highly consistent with the national goal of promoting the development of “new quality productive forces” through technological innovation-driven industrial upgrading.
The popularity of these majors indicates strong market demand for specific skills. However, even for traditional popular majors such as Tourism Management and Marketing, their slowing growth or even negative growth also suggests potential skill mismatch risks. This shows that even in mature fields, the curriculum content and training models of vocational education must be constantly adjusted to adapt to new requirements brought by industry digital transformation and changes in consumer behavior, otherwise graduates may face challenges in employment prospects. Therefore, changes in major distribution are not only quantitative increases or decreases but also profound adjustments to major connotation and skill training direction.
3.2 Emerging and Rapidly Growing Majors: Alignment with New Quality Productive Forces and Strategic Industries
Higher vocational education demonstrates foresight in cultivating talents needed for future industries. In 2024, the top ten emerging majors with growth rates exceeding 50% include: Fire Rescue Technology, New Energy Materials Application Technology, Intelligent Construction Technology, Green and Low-Carbon Technology, UAV Surveying and Mapping Technology, Energy Storage Materials Technology, and Webcast and Operation. The high specialization and rapid growth of these majors indicate that the vocational education system is not only responding to current needs but also actively predicting and laying out future industrial development and technological breakthroughs.
The setting of these emerging majors is highly consistent with national policy orientation. The state clearly encourages priority development of emerging majors needed by industries such as advanced manufacturing, new energy, new materials, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. For example, New Energy Materials Application Technology and Energy Storage Materials Technology directly serve the vigorous development of the new energy industry. Intelligent Construction Technology and Green and Low-Carbon Technology respond to the intelligent upgrading of the construction industry and the country’s commitment to sustainable development. This close alignment with national strategic emerging industries makes vocational education an important force supporting national technological autonomy and sustainable development.
The strategic foresight of this major layout will have a profound impact on China’s innovation ecosystem. By cultivating skilled technical talents in these frontier fields, higher vocational colleges are directly promoting the practical application and industrialization of new technologies, effectively bridging the gap between scientific research achievements and market applications. This not only provides key human resource guarantee for emerging industries but also enhances China’s competitiveness in global high-tech fields. In addition, this trend is also reflected in regular higher education, where “new engineering” majors such as artificial intelligence, electrical engineering, big data technology, and automation are highly favored. Even in liberal arts fields, interdisciplinary and integrated new majors such as Music Technology, Game Art Design, Virtual Space Art, and Digital Performance Design have emerged, indicating that technological progress has had a profound impact on all academic fields, promoting cross-border integration of major settings.
Table 4: Top Ten Popular Majors in Higher Vocational Colleges in 2024
| Ranking | Major Name | Growth Trend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Data and Accounting | Positive growth |
| 2 | E-commerce | Positive growth |
| 3 | Big Data Technology | Significant growth |
| 4 | Mechatronics Technology | Significant growth |
| 5 | Tourism Management | Negative growth for two consecutive years |
| 6 | Marketing | Negative growth for two consecutive years |
| 7 | Software Technology | Significant growth |
| 8 | Industrial Robot Technology | Positive growth |
| 9 | New Energy Vehicle Technology | Positive growth |
| 10 | Modern Logistics Management | Positive growth |
Data source: Jinpingguo 2024 Higher Vocational Major Competitiveness Ranking
Table 5: Top Ten Emerging Majors in Higher Vocational Colleges in 2024
| Ranking | Major Name | Growth Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fire Rescue Technology | >50% |
| 2 | New Energy Materials Application Technology | >50% |
| 3 | Intelligent Construction Technology | >50% |
| 4 | Green and Low-Carbon Technology | >50% |
| 5 | UAV Surveying and Mapping Technology | >50% |
| 6 | Energy Storage Materials Technology | >50% |
| 7 | Webcast and Operation | >50% |
Data source: Jinpingguo 2024 Higher Vocational Major Competitiveness Ranking
3.3 Majors Under Reduction or Optimization Adjustment: Analysis of Adjustment Reasons
While actively adding emerging majors, China’s higher vocational education is also systematically canceling or adjusting some majors to improve the allocation efficiency of educational resources and the employment matching degree of talent cultivation. In 2024, a total of 5,052 major points were cancelled nationwide for higher vocational (specialized) majors. This large-scale cancellation action directly responded to the national policy requirement of “eliminating majors with excess supply, low employment rates, and disappearing professional positions.”
Behind major adjustment are profound changes in the labor market and industrial structure. For example, among popular majors, Tourism Management and Marketing have experienced negative growth for two consecutive years, which may reflect the employment pressure of these traditional service industries under the background of digital transformation and increased market saturation. From employment data, the employment proportion of occupational categories such as “Construction Engineering” and “Finance/Audit/Tax/Statistics” has declined in recent years. This may be related to the slowdown in demand in the real estate industry and the saturation of positions such as junior accounting. These major adjustments or enrollment suspensions are direct feedback from the education system to market signals, aiming to avoid the disconnection between talent cultivation and social demand and reduce graduate employment difficulties.
This proactive major adjustment reflects the rapid response of vocational education to market changes and the determination to optimize resource allocation. By eliminating majors that do not adapt to market demand, educational resources can be reallocated to fields with more development prospects and talent shortages, thus improving the overall efficiency and relevance of vocational education. In addition, the adjustment of some traditional majors also indicates that deeper changes are taking place in the economic structure. For example, the decline in employment in construction and some financial positions not only affects the employment of new graduates but also puts forward the need for retraining and skill upgrading for existing employees. This prompts vocational education to pay more attention to how to cultivate high-value, more specialized skilled talents in traditional industries, rather than just basic positions, thus promoting the transformation and upgrading of the entire labor market.
4. Major Distribution and Industry Fit
4.1 Responding to National Strategic Needs: Advanced Manufacturing, New Energy, Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology
The major setting of China’s higher vocational colleges is highly coordinated with national industrial policies and strategic priority directions, aiming to provide sufficient talent support for key fields. National policy clearly states that the development of vocational education majors should focus on strategic emerging industries such as “advanced manufacturing, new energy, new materials, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, industrial internet, energy storage, and intelligent manufacturing.”
In practice, this policy orientation has been transformed into specific major layout. For example, “new engineering” majors such as artificial intelligence, electrical engineering, big data technology, and automation continue to be favored. Emerging majors such as new energy materials application technology, energy storage materials technology, and intelligent construction technology are also showing rapid growth. This close fit between major layout and national strategic industries is not accidental but a direct reflection of the country’s guidance of talent supply through education policy to ensure skilled talents needed for key industrial development. This makes vocational education a key tool supporting China’s future economic competitiveness and technological autonomy.
To further deepen the integration of industry and education and improve the “fit” between education and industrial needs, China has selected and built 28 municipal industry-education consortiums nationwide and added 6 national-level consortiums in 2024. At the same time, more than 1,100 industry-education integration communities have been built nationwide, including two national-level communities in rail transit equipment and non-ferrous metal industries. These initiatives aim to establish a dynamic feedback mechanism between education and industry to ensure that course content keeps pace with the latest technologies and practices in the industry, thus cultivating high-quality technical and skilled talents that truly meet enterprise needs.
By focusing on these high-tech and strategic industries, China’s vocational education system is helping the country become a global leader in these fields. This strategic talent cultivation is of immeasurable value for promoting local innovation, reducing dependence on external technologies, and enhancing national economic security.
4.2 Addressing Talent Shortages in Key Service Industries (e.g., Healthcare, Elderly Care, Childcare)
In addition to serving strategic emerging industries, higher vocational education is also actively addressing talent shortage issues in social livelihood areas. National policy clearly requires accelerating the construction of majors with talent shortages such as nursing, health care, childcare, and housekeeping. This reflects that vocational education not only focuses on economic development but also undertakes the challenge of addressing population structure changes (such as aging) and growing social service needs.
Although individual institutions may suspend enrollment in majors such as “Smart Health Elderly Care Services and Management,” the overall trend is to actively respond to policy calls. For example, the same institution adds majors such as “Infant and Child Care Services and Management,” indicating that there may be considerations of regional or institutional resource endowments in specific major setting, but the general direction is still to make up for shortcomings in livelihood services. Graduates of higher vocational colleges are also increasingly serving in livelihood areas such as medical care and education, confirming the contribution of vocational education in meeting basic public service needs of society.
This emphasis on cultivating talents in majors such as nursing, health care, and childcare is not only to meet market demand but also to promote the professionalization and standardization of occupations that may have been informal in these traditions. Through formal vocational education, practitioners in these service industries will obtain more professional skills and knowledge, thereby improving service quality, improving industry image, and ultimately enhancing the social status and attractiveness of these occupations. This reflects the comprehensive role of vocational education in promoting social welfare and improving people’s quality of life.
Table 6: High-demand Majors Highly Aligned with National Strategic Industries and Talent Shortage Areas
| Strategic Emerging Industry Fields | Talent Shortage Service Areas | Related Major Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Manufacturing | – | Mechatronics Technology, Industrial Robot Technology, Intelligent Construction Technology |
| Artificial Intelligence | – | Big Data Technology, Software Technology, Artificial Intelligence (Undergraduate) |
| New Energy | – | New Energy Vehicle Technology, New Energy Materials Application Technology, Energy Storage Materials Technology, Green and Low-Carbon Technology |
| Biotechnology | – | – |
| Industrial Internet | – | – |
| Elderly Care | Health Care | Smart Health Elderly Care Services and Management (partial adjustment), Nursing |
| Childcare | Childcare | Infant and Child Care Services and Management |
| Housekeeping | Housekeeping | Housekeeping Services |
4.3 Role of Industry-Education Integration in Major Optimization
Industry-education integration is the core mechanism promoting the optimization of major offerings and quality improvement in China’s higher vocational education. Through close cooperation between educational institutions and industry, vocational education can ensure that its major setting and talent cultivation maintain high consistency with actual industrial needs.
At the national level, industry-education integration and school-enterprise cooperation are vigorously promoted. For example, the Ministry of Education has selected and built 28 municipal industry-education consortiums and 6 national-level municipal industry-education consortiums, and established more than 1,100 industry-education integration communities. These entities aim to promote deep matching between vocational education and industrial needs and optimize the combination of educational resources and local economy. Policies encourage enterprises to deeply participate in various aspects of vocational colleges including professional planning, textbook development, teaching design, curriculum setting, and practical teaching. Through various forms such as joint enrollment by schools and enterprises, entrusted training, order-based training, and apprenticeship system, enterprise needs are integrated into the whole process of talent cultivation, thus cultivating skilled talents that better meet market demands.
Industry-education integration has established a key dynamic feedback mechanism, enabling vocational colleges to quickly adjust major settings according to industry needs and technological progress. This mechanism ensures real-time updating of course content, enabling graduates to master the latest skills needed by the industry and minimizing skill mismatch. In addition, digital platforms also provide strong support for industry-education integration. The “National Vocational Education Smart Education Platform” launched in 2022 has gathered more than 7.15 million high-quality teaching resources, serving more than 23 million users with a total page view exceeding 4.5 billion. This platform significantly improves education quality and teaching efficiency through cloud computing, big data and other technologies, and provides students with more personalized learning experiences.
This deep industry-education integration directly enhances graduates’ employability because they acquire practical skills and experience closely related to the industry. This not only makes vocational colleges more attractive to students and employers but also comprehensively enhances the competitiveness of China’s skilled labor force in the global market.
5. Regional Characteristics of Major Distribution
5.1 Geographic Concentration of Vocational Education Resources
There is significant imbalance in the geographic distribution of China’s vocational education resources. High-quality vocational education resources, including high-level vocational colleges and professional groups, are mostly concentrated in central cities, while being relatively scarce in non-central cities and remote mountainous areas.
This concentration phenomenon is particularly evident in the “Double High Plan” (China’s Characteristic High-level Vocational Schools and Professional Construction Plan) supported by the state. The key vocational colleges selected for this plan are mostly located in provincial central cities. For example, among the more than 100 higher vocational colleges in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces, most are located in provincial central cities, and the “Double High Plan” selected institutions also mainly come from these central cities. This resource distribution pattern reflects regional differences in existing economic development levels and industrial foundations. Central cities usually have stronger industrial bases and higher demand for skilled talents, naturally attracting more educational investment and resource concentration.
In addition, the distribution of vocational education research centers also confirms this concentration trend. Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai constitute the agglomeration center of vocational education research, while Guangdong, Tianjin, Guangxi, Chongqing, Beijing and other places have also formed scattered regional research centers. This distribution of research resources shows certain correlation with the overall development level of vocational education in various provinces and cities. However, this resource concentration also brings a challenge: underdeveloped regions face difficulties in cultivating local skilled talents, which in turn may hinder their economic development and industrial upgrading.
5.2 Impact of Uneven Distribution and Efforts for Balanced Development
The uneven distribution of vocational education resources has brought multiple negative impacts. For students in non-central cities and remote mountainous areas, this means insufficient skill learning opportunities and limited pathways for further education. This not only restricts individual educational and career development opportunities but also exacerbates challenges in educational equity between regions. From the industrial perspective, enterprises in underdeveloped regions struggle to obtain needed high-quality technical and skilled talents, thus hindering local industrial development and upgrading.
To address this imbalance, policymakers have recognized the severity of the problem and proposed solutions. Tang Lijun, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, pointed out that investment in vocational education in non-central cities and remote mountainous areas should be increased to promote balanced distribution of vocational education resources, with focus on supporting the construction of high-level vocational colleges and professional groups in these areas to enhance their educational strength and teaching quality.
Specific measures include: encouraging vocational colleges in central cities to carry out counterpart support cooperation with those in non-central cities, achieving teacher sharing through online video teaching or on-site teaching; promoting cooperation in the construction of vocational college professional groups, giving play to the leading role of strong schools; and sharing laboratory resources through teacher and student exchange to solve the problem of laboratory construction difficulties in underdeveloped regions. These measures indicate that solving regional imbalance problems requires multi-dimensional and systematic approaches, not only increasing investment but also improving the educational level of underdeveloped regions through resource sharing and cooperation mechanisms, thus ultimately achieving balanced development of vocational education and providing strong support for regional economic development and talent cultivation nationwide. This balanced development is crucial for building a more resilient national economic system, as it can reduce excessive dependence on a few economic centers and promote more inclusive regional growth.
6. Employment Outcomes and Future Prospects
6.1 Overall Employment Trends for Higher Vocational College Graduates
The performance of China’s higher vocational college graduates in the labor market continues to be strong, with employment rates remaining at high levels. The employment rate of secondary and higher vocational graduates has long remained above 90%, fully reflecting the good fit between vocational education talent cultivation and social needs.
Private enterprises have always been the main force absorbing higher vocational graduates, and in the past decade, both the employment proportion and employment satisfaction of higher vocational graduates in private enterprises have significantly improved. This indicates that the vitality of the private economy provides broad employment space for vocational education graduates. In terms of employment location, higher vocational graduates are increasingly choosing to work in prefecture-level and lower-tier cities, with this proportion rising from 60% for the 2012 cohort to 66% for the 2021 cohort. This downward trend in employment location shows that vocational education is effectively supporting local economic development, providing urgently needed skilled talents for small and medium-sized cities and county economies, and helping to promote coordinated regional development and rural revitalization.
In addition, the income of higher vocational graduates entering the workplace has also increased accordingly with the rapid development of the national economy. High employment rates and income growth together constitute an important foundation for the attractiveness of vocational education and also confirm its value and recognition in the labor market. This market recognition, in turn, encourages more students to choose vocational education paths, forming a virtuous cycle of talent cultivation and employment market interaction.
6.2 Analysis of High-demand and High-salary Professional Fields
Analysis of employment and salary for higher vocational college graduates shows that certain professional fields perform prominently due to their close connection with emerging industries. The industry categories with the highest monthly income for 2021 higher vocational graduates were transportation (5,520 yuan/month), followed by information transmission, software and information technology services (5,023 yuan/month), and electronic and electrical equipment manufacturing (4,982 yuan/month). Majors in equipment manufacturing such as mechanical manufacturing and automation, and welding technology and automation also have relatively high salary levels.
Although the high-salary major data in the research materials mainly focus on undergraduate students, their trends have important reference value for higher vocational education. The majors with the highest monthly income for 2022 undergraduate graduates were concentrated in computer and electronic information categories, such as Information Security (7,579 yuan), Information Engineering (7,157 yuan), Data Science and Big Data Technology (7,074 yuan), and Software Engineering (7,056 yuan). These graduates mainly work as Internet developers, computer programmers, and electronic engineering technicians. It is worth noting that the Data Science and Big Data Technology major, which began enrollment in 2016, ranked in the top three of the high-salary list in its first appearance.
These high-salary and high-demand professional fields are generally closely related to the rapid development of the digital economy and intelligent manufacturing. The dominant position of information technology, electronic manufacturing, and data-related fields highlights the profound impact of these industries on the labor market. The major distribution of vocational education is obviously responding to this structural transformation, prioritizing the cultivation of skilled talents needed to support technological progress. The higher salary levels in these technology-intensive fields form a “premium” for professional skills, providing strong incentives for students to pursue these majors and also prompting institutions to further invest in related programs, thus forming a virtuous cycle of talent cultivation and high-growth industries.
At the same time, some traditional industries and majors are facing challenges of declining employment proportions. For example, the financial industry, which ranked at the top of monthly income list ten years ago, has “lost its halo” in the 2021 higher vocational graduate monthly income list. In addition, the employment proportions of occupational categories such as “Construction Engineering” and “Finance/Audit/Tax/Statistics” have also declined, which may be related to the slowdown in housing construction industry demand and the saturation of positions such as junior accounting.
Table 7: Employment and Salary Trends for Higher Vocational College Graduates (by Key Major Categories)
| Indicator | Description | Data Source |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Employment Rate | Employment rate of secondary and higher vocational graduates exceeds 90% | 26 |
| Main Employer Type | Private enterprises are the main absorbers, with improved employment satisfaction | 23 |
| Employment Location Trend | Increasingly employed in prefecture-level and lower-tier cities (60% in 2012 to 66% in 2021) | 23 |
| Highest Monthly Income Industries (2021 Higher Vocational Graduates) | Transportation (5,520 yuan), Information Transmission, Software and Information Technology Services (5,023 yuan), Electronic and Electrical Equipment Manufacturing (4,982 yuan) | 23 |
| Declining Salary Industries | Financial industry (compared with ten years ago) | 23 |
| Declining Employment Proportion Fields | Construction Engineering, Finance/Audit/Tax/Statistics | 23 |
6.3 Future Professional Development Strategic Directions
Looking ahead, the professional development of China’s higher vocational education will continue to adhere to the strategy of dynamic adjustment and optimization and upgrading to ensure its high consistency with national development strategies and market needs. The Ministry of Education will continue to dynamically update the major catalog and improve the management methods for major setting, indicating that vocational education will adopt a highly adaptive governance model to cope with rapid technological and economic changes and avoid stagnation and maintain its relevance.
Future professional development will continue to prioritize majors in key areas such as advanced manufacturing, new energy, new materials, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. At the same time, given population structure changes and growing social service needs, majors with talent shortages such as nursing, health care, childcare, and housekeeping will also be accelerated. Traditional majors in metallurgy, medicine, building materials, textile and other fields will be transformed and upgraded to adapt to new technologies and industrial models.
In addition, majors with excess supply, low employment rates, or disappearing professional positions will continue to be eliminated. Policies will encourage schools to offer more majors that are in short supply and meet market needs, thus forming a major system that is closely connected with industrial chains and innovation chains. This systematic strategy, by prioritizing emerging fields, addressing talent shortages, transforming traditional fields, and eliminating outdated majors, aims to enhance the resilience of China’s higher vocational education against future economic shocks and ensure that the workforce can adapt to the needs of a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy, thus achieving “future readiness.”
7. Conclusion
This report conducted in-depth research on the major distribution of Chinese higher vocational colleges, revealing its characteristics of large scale, high dynamism, and close alignment with national development strategies. China has built the world’s largest vocational education system, and its major offerings are not static lists but actively respond to national economic transformation and industrial upgrading needs through annual large-scale adjustments.
The dynamic management mechanism of the major catalog, especially the unified classification and high adjustment range of the 2021 new version catalog, reflects policymakers’ determination to ensure vocational education keeps pace with the development direction of modern industrial systems and new quality productive forces. Emerging majors such as big data technology and new energy materials application technology are growing rapidly, directly serving national strategic emerging industries such as advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and new energy. This not only provides skilled talent support for these key areas but also promotes the industrialization of technological innovation achievements. At the same time, vocational education also focuses on livelihood needs and actively cultivates urgently needed service talents in areas such as nursing, health care, and childcare.
Industry-education integration is the core driving force for major optimization. Through deep cooperation between schools and enterprises and the construction of digital platforms, it ensures the practicality and relevance of talent cultivation, significantly improving graduates’ employment competitiveness. However, the problem of uneven regional distribution of vocational education resources still exists, with resources concentrated in central cities and relatively scarce in non-central areas, affecting educational equity and regional coordinated development. Nevertheless, the government has recognized this challenge and is striving to promote balanced development of vocational education through increased investment, counterpart support, and innovative teaching models.
The high employment rate of higher vocational college graduates and their salary advantages in high-growth fields such as information technology and intelligent manufacturing fully demonstrate the good match between major settings and labor market demands. In the future, China’s higher vocational education will continue to adhere to the dynamic adjustment strategy, prioritize emerging fields, transform and upgrade traditional majors, and eliminate outdated majors, to build a more resilient and adaptable high-quality skilled talent workforce that continuously contributes to national economic development, technological progress, and social advancement.
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