Research On The Status Quo And Problems Of Chinese Industry Associations Participating In Secondary Vocational Education

The technical ability of talents trained in the secondary vocational schools directly affects the quality of China's social and economic development,as well as the people's well-being and social stability.However,in recent years,there has been a mismatch between the trained graduates of secondary vocational education and the needs of enterprises in China.The phenomena of “skilled labor shortage” of enterprises and the “difficult employment” for the graduates from secondary vocational schools exist at the same time.Therefore,there is an urgent need for an intermediary party,which can connect the government,vocational colleges and enterprises to reform the traditional mode of secondary vocational education and improve the quality of secondary vocational education.According to the experience of the developed countries,the active participation of industry associations is the key way to solve these problems.As a product of economic and social development in the new era,the industry associations are an indispensable third sector in the socialist marketing economy of China as a consortium of industry enterprises.The reason is that the industry associations are more aware of the technological frontiers,market operations,and talent specification requirements in the industry.They play an intermediary role of “report it to leadership and make it known to the lower levels”,which can stabilize the triangle role of “government-company-vocational college”.This thesis integrates the methods of literature research,historical research and comparative research to study the participating in secondary vocational education of the industry associations in China,which follows the logic of the “status quo-causes-countermeasures”.Countermeasures are proposed based on the new public management theory,the third sector theory,information asymmetry theory and stakeholder theory.Firstly,the necessity and feasibility of China's industry associations participating in secondary vocational education are discussed.Secondly,the status quo of China's industry associations participating in the secondary vocational education is analyzed and summarized.It's found that China's industry associations have participated in the secondary vocational education by holding or jointly running schools with enterprises or other secondary vocational education colleges,undertaking of vocational skills competitions,and joining education groups.To some extent,it promotes the professional setting,curriculum development,teaching material construction,teacher team building,establishment of training bases and R&D centers in secondary vocational colleges.However,the current participation rate is small and the depth is lower.It is only the individual behavior of some powerful industry associations.That is,there isn't a group effect.In the process of participating in the secondary vocational education,the industry associations in China generally encounter the dilemmas of the incomplete decision-making function,the weakening of the management functions,the lack of quality control and evaluation,and the limited service functions.This thesis believes that there are four main reasons: the legal policy guidelines from the government are not in place;the industry association's own role is not clear,the funding is short,and the development is imperfect;the vocational colleges and industry associations lack effective interaction,and it's difficult to form an effective cooperation motivation due to their insufficient capacity;enterprises lack trust in industry associations and lack motivation to participate in the secondary vocational education.Finally,on the basis of the above discussion,the current dilemma of China's industry associations participating in the secondary vocational education is analyzed in depth and the main idea of the thesis is underlined.A well-known fact is that “the tasty orange,grown in southern China,would turn sour once it is grown in the north”.Thus,the actual situation of China must be considered when we learn from Germany and the United Kingdom.From the perspective of stakeholders,some suggestions for improvement are proposed: 1)at the national level,the legal system can be improved,the policy guidelines can be strengthened,and the needless functions of the government can be transferred to the industry associations with respect to the secondary vocational education;2)with regard to the industry association itself,the construction of the internal organizational capacity can be strengthened.The clear role positioning and innovative methods of raising fund are needed to improve their voice and influence;3)at the level of the secondary vocational colleges,it is necessary to consolidate the connotation construction of colleges and universities,and improve the interaction with industry associations.