Industry Analysis of Industry-Education Integration: National AI Vocational Education Industry-Education Integration Consortium Established
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National AI Vocational Education Industry-Education Integration Consortium Established
On December 2nd, the founding ceremony of the National AI Vocational Education Industry-Education Integration Consortium, hosted by Guangzhou Vocational and Technical University of Science and Technology, Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, and Guangzhou Firui'ao Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., was grandly held at the Guangke Grand Theater. The event attracted participation from over 200 institutions, including universities, research institutes, and enterprises across the country.
With the pilot advancement of industry-education integration cities, new models such as municipal industry-education alliances, industry-education integration consortia, and collaborative innovation platforms are continuously emerging.
"Industry-education integration enables schools to cultivate talents that better align with societal, industry, and industrial demands," said Tian Kemei, Academic Committee Director of the Industry-Education Integration Professional Committee of the China Education Development Strategy Society. He emphasized that AI is profoundly transforming people's lives, necessitating the cultivation of AI talents to meet societal needs. Simultaneously, AI is reshaping today's educational models.
Tian Kemei believes that, against this backdrop, the establishment of the National AI Vocational Education Industry-Education Integration Consortium is timely. He suggested that the consortium should establish shared strategies, institutions, and mechanisms to serve as a bridge, integrating resources from government, industry, enterprises, and schools. This includes transforming corporate standards, job technologies, and production processes into teaching solutions to support talent development.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China highlighted the need to coordinate vocational education, higher education, and continuing education for collaborative innovation, promote the integration of vocational and general education, industry-education integration, and the convergence of science and education, and optimize the positioning of vocational education. This sets high requirements for the development of vocational education, which relies on high-quality vocational education faculty.
According to the analysis of China Industry-Education Integration Industry In-depth Research and Development Report (2024-2028) by China Research Institute of Industry & Economics:
High-quality technical and skilled talents are a vital component of China's efforts to build a world-class power and achieve Chinese-style modernization. China has over 10,000 vocational schools with more than 30 million enrolled students.
Industry-education integration refers to vocational schools actively establishing specialized industries based on their programs, closely combining industry with teaching to mutually support and promote each other. This transforms schools into industrial entities integrating talent cultivation, scientific research, and technological services, creating a unified school-enterprise operational model. Industry-education integration is a critical pillar of vocational education, representing deep collaboration between industry and education to enhance the quality of talent cultivation through partnerships between institutions and enterprises.
Industry-Education Integration Industry Analysis
Currently, China has over 10,000 vocational colleges with more than 30 million enrolled students, representing enormous demographic dividends.
Data shows that China's vocational education sector will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 12% in the next five years, reaching a market size exceeding 900 billion yuan by 2023. This includes nearly 300 billion yuan for academic vocational education and over 600 billion yuan for non-academic vocational education.
The national level continues to promote the development of vocational education, with its "status" continuously elevated and the industry flourishing.
Industry-education integration is a defining characteristic and fundamental requirement of vocational education as an educational type. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, industry-education integration has evolved from a national system to a legal requirement, officially incorporated into the Vocational Education Law. The National Development and Reform Commission and seven other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Industry-Education Integration Empowerment and Enhancement Action (2023-2025)", proposing to establish about 50 national industry-education integration pilot cities and cultivate over 10,000 industry-education integrated enterprises nationwide by 2025, further advancing the in-depth development of industry-education integration.
Regarding central-local relations, greater emphasis is placed on local government responsibilities. The reform and development of vocational education involve complex intergovernmental relations, with central-local relations being a key focus of exploration. Especially since entering the new era, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have positioned vocational education more prominently within national development strategies, with unprecedented levels of attention and reform efforts. However, due to differences in economic and social conditions, industrial structures, educational cultures, and population characteristics across regions, there are significant disparities in understanding, emphasis, and implementation of vocational education.
To establish vocational education systems compatible with local economic and social development, the main responsibility for vocational education reform and development increasingly shifts toward local governments. The "Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Modern Vocational Education" clearly states that "the state will incorporate vocational education work into provincial governments' education duty supervision and evaluation," reinforcing provincial governments' responsibilities in vocational education development. Industry-education integration pilot cities further decentralize the main responsibility for vocational education development, making it more flexible and adaptable.