The Application of Apprenticeships in Germany and the United Kingdom to the Reform of Chinese Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

Since the number of college students in China is tremendously increasing nowadays, the economic structure in China is going through a huge transformation, and adequate human resources are being needed desperately by the skill-intensive industry. The Chinese government is concerned that the deficiency of apprentices in certain industries will threaten the economy. Effective policies, therefore, should be made to carry out reform of vocational education and the training system. This paper draws conclusions about the strategies applied in German and the United Kingdom apprenticeships from data, which originate from government documents and published papers. Furthermore, the author discusses how to apply useful experience to the reform in China, estimating the directions of vocational education and training development. Through research, it is suggested that reform should be based on the revised laws. The government should introduce more stakeholder participation mechanisms and improve education quality, guiding the ideology via mass media and publicizing the benefits of vocational education and its promising prospects after the reform. Planning should be strategic and closely related to facts. In addition, special institutional research organizations are supposed to be established.