The way collaboration benefits vocational students: a case study of a joint venture college in China

ABSTRACT

International collaborations in the vocational and training (VET) sector have grown significantly in the past three decades in China as well as in other parts of the world. Despite its growing prominence, it remains a largely under-researched field compared to the large volume of research on universities’ internationalization. In particular, it is unclear how internationalization practices improve vocational students’ academic and social competencies and readiness for employment. This case study was intended to fill this current gap in the literature by investigating a selected joint venture VET college in China. This study employed a wealth of data as evidence that international programmes could benefit vocational students in their English skills, professional knowledge, intercultural competence, and personal and career development. In additional to the opportunities created for vocational students, international programmes are expected to offer workplace experience and design a curriculum that suits students with different future plans. The findings of this study indicate that international collaborations in the VET sector have the potential not only to better prepare vocational students for life and employment, but also to address the challenges facing the VET system in developing economies.

KEYWORDS:

• International collaboration
• vocational education and training
• joint venture programme
• student benefits
• China

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Associate Professor Feng Lili in assistance with the data collection.

Disclosure statement

N/A.

Geolocation information

China.

Notes

1. Data sources: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, People’s Republic of China.

2. Data sources: Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China, Number of Students in Higher Education Institutions (2016), http://en.moe.gov.cn/Resources/Statistics/edu_stat_2016/2016_en01/201708/t20170822_311603.html.

Additional information

Funding

This study received no funding.

Notes on contributors

Yuan Gao

Yuan Gao is a research officer at the Centre for International Research on Education Systems, Victoria University. Previously, she was a programme manager in the International Office of Nankai University in China. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Melbourne. Her recent works include papers on constructing and measuring university internationalization in Journal of Studies in International Education and Higher Education and two chapters in the book The Age of STEM: Educational Policy and Practice in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Across the World.