Academic Needs vs Skills Gaps: Report
Guy Thompson
International Business Development | Insights, Research, Digital Marketing, Advertising, Cross-Border Ecommerce
Looking beyond high-tech roles in the 'new economy' of the future, there is already a shortfall of vocational and technically trained staff in a range of fields from hospitality to manufacturing and services in China.
Training for these hands-on roles was impossible with social distancing and lockdowns during the pandemic. When looking at the fastest-growing industries in China, it’s clear that many more roles beyond tech, IT and AI will be needed to fulfil demand.
For many decades China has emphasised higher education for white-collar professions, largely at the expense of vocational training for less desirable blue-collar jobs. This preference stems from longstanding cultural values and the aspirations of parents and students to seek prestigious and well-paying jobs.
The resulting discrepancy has led to a shortfall in the availability of vocationally trained staff across a range of industries. China addressed this directly in the 2021 Five-Year Plan and the Education Modernisation 2035 plan, aiming to enrol at least 3.6 million students in vocational education.
This would represent around 7.7% of higher education students of the 46.5 million enrolled in 2023. To supply industry demand, the ratio will need to increase and follow those economies with solid collaboration between industry and education.
In Australia, around a third of higher education students are enrolled in vocational training. This ratio will rise with recent increases in Government support. Meanwhile, in Vietnam just under 15% are enrolled in vocational training, and in India it is only 5% of students.
As China’s economy has become more modern and educated, family sizes have become smaller. A common trend that is occurring in developed economies around the world. This social advancement leads to a shrinking labour pool of young workers.
This in turn increases the demand for well-rounded workers, with both academic qualifications and vocational skills. This is vital for fostering a resilient and adaptive economy anywhere in the world, but this will be particularly important for China to navigate the years ahead.
There is significant scope to provide support for China in this capacity, via international study programs offshore, knowledge sharing, and transnational education programs in China, and throughout Asia that aim to share the best-in-class training for vocational skills.
Markets like Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada are renowned for efficient customer service, thriving tourism economies, high-quality health and care services, along with excellent civil infrastructure, logistics and delivery networks.
Collaboration between supply and demand markets will be vital to bring training levels across many “traditional” industries in China fully into the 21st century.
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This section is from the recent United Media Solution white paper. Download the full report here: China Report Card: International Education Market Update.
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(Sources for this article):
Australian Department of Education, China’s education modernisation plan towards 2035, April 2020
The Pie News China’s 14th Five Year Plan: What does it mean for the education sector? Nov 2021
Statista Number of students enrolled in degree programs in tertiary education in China from 1990 to 2022, Nov 2023
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Education, December 2022
PIE News, $12.6bn plan to “transform” Australian VET Oct 2023
Vietnamnet Global, Vocational training institutions in crisis
Education for All In India, 2023
International Business Development | Insights, Research, Digital Marketing, Advertising, Cross-Border Ecommerce
11 个月Education is not a one size fits all approach, there are many pathways for career development, even if prestigious University degrees are out of reach, or previously the only preferred option. Millions of young workers in their mid-twenties in China are looking at ways they can experience the world as adults, to work and learn and travel. An undergraduate degree straight out of high school is not the only option.