China's 1+X integrates vocational and higher education

In a move responding to population demographics in China and the surge in enrollments of higher education institutions, vocational preparation is being integrated into university degree programs. Chinese officials hope that the 1+X system will increase higher education graduates' success in gaining jobs by offering a credential that combines practical training within university degree programs.

Pookong Kee, chair of Australian studies at Peking University, observed that while university graduates struggle to obtain jobs, older worker numbers are shrinking, leaving gaps in critical work sectors. He said, "As china upgrades its manufacturing and other industries, they are looking for people with high skills." But the problem is that youth in China and their families hold "'strong social stigma...' against training for such jobs in China and nearby South Korea, where a Confucian approach militated against vocational education. This attitude 'places a premium on university.'"

The key to the 1+X system is that it offers "job-delivering vocational certificates as well as its face-saving degree" concluded Kee. The new approach is a cultural as well as practical solution that should serve China well and should be watched as a policy by other countries developing more robust higher education systems.