Teachers in vocational colleges give lectures to students majoring in numerical control technology application. Photographed by Wang Quanchao, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

Recently, the Ministry of Education announced the results of the work related to the record and approval of specialty setting of higher vocational education in 2024. The Ministry of Education has accepted 178 applications for the proposed new national control distribution of specialties, and 75 specialties have been approved by the competent departments of multiple industries after joint review.

The registration of the establishment of higher vocational education specialties has greatly adjusted and optimized the distribution of specialties, which is the largest adjustment since the release of the new version of the Catalogue of Vocational Education Specialties in 2021. It is worth noting that according to the filing and approval related work results published by the Ministry of Education, there are 66870 specialty points to be enrolled in 2024, 6068 new specialty points and 5052 revoked specialty points compared with 2023. In terms of the increase and reduction range, this round of professional setup can be called a "big move".

Huo Lijuan, director of the Institute of Vocational Education of the Beijing Academy of Education Sciences, believes that this major adjustment focuses on the national development strategy, regional social industry needs, and the urgent needs of the national economy and the people's livelihood, which is highly matched with the development of China's modern industry.

The new professional structure adapts to the development of advanced industries

In 2021, the Opinions on Promoting the High Quality Development of Modern Vocational Education issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council proposed to optimize the supply structure of vocational education. Focusing on the major national strategy, we will closely link the trend of industrial upgrading and technological change, and give priority to the development of a number of emerging disciplines required by advanced manufacturing, new energy, new materials, modern agriculture, modern information technology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence and other industries.

In this round of major adjustment, 42 Beijing colleges and universities have added 57 higher vocational education majors, many of which are characterized by "intelligence", such as Beijing Institute of Industry and Technology's new safety intelligent monitoring technology major, Beijing Institute of Finance and Trade's new building intelligent engineering technology major, and Beijing Agricultural Vocational College's new intelligent water conservancy technology major. At the same time, many new specialties related to artificial intelligence technology application, industrial Internet and so on have emerged in various places. Huo Lijuan believes that this is the result of industrial transformation driving the optimization of professional structure in higher vocational colleges.

"From the perspective of scale, the adjustment of specialty setting is very large this time. This shows that the response speed of vocational education specialty optimization to the industry has been very fast." Huo Lijuan said frankly that the current industrial transformation and development are changing with each passing day, and vocational education specialty also needs to establish a rapid adjustment mechanism to match the social needs.

Zheng Yi, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Jiangsu Vocational College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Science and Technology, told the reporter that the adjustment of agricultural majors was centered on major tasks in the national rural revitalization strategy such as food security and seed industry revitalization. For example, in order to respond to the development of digital agriculture, the establishment of intelligent agricultural equipment and specialized points related to intelligent livestock and poultry breeding has increased significantly. At the same time, landscape technology, seed production and management and other professional sites have also increased significantly.

"At present, we are in a critical period of promoting industrial transformation and upgrading." Huo Lijuan said that vocational education majors should have industrial linkage. Where the industrial layout is, specialty settings should correspond to it. At the same time, it also has industrial "follow-up", that is, with the industrial upgrading, professional settings also need to be iterative.

Manufacturing industry and agriculture also face the requirements of the era of transformation, especially some traditional professional categories matching with traditional industries also need to be updated. In Rizhao Vocational and Technical College, previously advantageous majors such as construction engineering and iron and steel metallurgy are now exploring artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, etc. with the support of enterprises, so as to keep up with the new situation of industrial development.

"In this round of professional increase and decrease, the new processes, new specifications and new standards of industry enterprises are all the adjustment considerations." Huo Lijuan said, "In the process of developing new quality productivity in China, the most important factor of production is workers. We need to use professional catalogs to guide talent training, while achieving the accurate allocation of human resources."

Focus on the construction needs of national key areas

"We have newly opened specialties such as artificial intelligence application technology and industrial Internet of Things technology, which can serve the industrial needs of national key fields," said Ye Hongwu, vice president of Ningbo City Vocational and Technical College. In order to build the specialty of artificial intelligence application technology, Ningbo City Vocational and Technical College has integrated and trained the existing teachers, hired high skilled talents including part-time teachers from enterprises, and set up a professional teaching team across disciplines.

At the same time, Ningbo City Vocational and Technical College has built a scientific research platform to support the development of new majors relying on collaborative innovation centers at all levels. Through inter school cooperation and integration of production and education, the school will effectively improve the construction level of new majors. "Facing the manufacturing industry in transformation and development, we have created a new information and intelligent engineering specialty group to provide services for high-end manufacturing industry. There are many national specialized new enterprises in Ningbo, and we hope that the talents trained by the school can help these enterprises develop," said Ye Hongwu.

Facing the national strategic emerging industry of aerospace equipment manufacturing, Chengdu Aviation Vocational and Technical College jointly held a seminar on professional course construction with several colleges and enterprises. The school also takes the lead in the pilot work of core curriculum reform of relevant majors, and cultivates skilled talents through the school enterprise collaborative education mechanism.

Facing modern agriculture, Liaoning Agricultural Vocational and Technical College has added specialties such as food quality and safety, agricultural product processing and quality inspection, intelligent livestock breeding, agricultural electrification technology, etc. Hu Kewei, vice president of Liaoning Agricultural Vocational and Technical College, said that the modern agricultural industry is undergoing transformation and upgrading. Modern and intelligent electrical equipment is widely used in facility agriculture, livestock and poultry breeding, agricultural product processing and food industry, which inevitably requires a large number of professional and technical personnel who are proficient in the assembly, commissioning, application, maintenance, care and management of agricultural electrification equipment.

Qin Xiaoyan, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of Shenzhen Polytechnic University, said that in the context of the integration of science and education, industry and education, education has been entrusted with the new mission of cultivating craftsmen and craftsmen in big countries and serving the country and society. This requires professional setting and distribution to be more consistent with the logic of industrial upgrading. It is understood that Shenzhen Polytechnic University will add mechanical and electronic engineering technology, integrated circuit engineering technology and other majors in 2024 to accurately connect with industry and job standards. Qin Xiaoyan introduced that Shenzhen Polytechnic University built its specialty on the industrial chain, focusing on cutting-edge advanced manufacturing and key industries to ensure the cutting-edge and dynamic nature of specialty construction.

Integration of production and teaching to improve the quality of education and teaching

"In 2024, vocational education should provide more powerful support for skilled personnel to accelerate industrial transformation and upgrading, and lead the in-depth integration of movable property and education from the point to the surface." Zeng Tianshan, deputy director of the Institute of Curriculum and Textbooks of the Ministry of Education, said, "The reform of high-end industries is an important background for vocational colleges to promote the integration of industry and education, and adjust professional settings. Industrial transformation and upgrading can bring new growth points and impetus to economic development. "

The "addition and subtraction" of vocational education majors not only increases the adaptability of vocational education and social development, but also provides students with more professional choices matching their own interests and potential.

However, the newly established majors also face some challenges and problems. For example, how to ensure the scientificity and rationality of specialty setting, how to ensure the quality of specialty teaching and employment prospects. The reporter learned that many schools have begun to solve problems.

In the past five years, Beijing Vocational College of Electronic Science and Technology has successively applied for 13 new majors, including big data technology and application, UAV application technology, and intelligent connected vehicle technology, which has greatly improved the ability of professional groups to serve the economic and social development of the capital. The reporter learned that the four majors newly declared by Beijing Electronic Technology Vocational College this year have all gone through preliminary research and expert argumentation, and have good teachers, experimental training conditions and other professional construction foundations.

While promoting the establishment of new majors, it is also necessary to strengthen the planning and management of major construction to improve students' ability. Entering the final assembly plant of AVIC UAV in Zigong, Sichuan, students from Chengdu Aviation Vocational and Technical College are assembling and debugging a pterosaur 2 UAV. Zhang Haoyang, a junior student of the university, said: "Through practice and application, I have deepened my knowledge of UAV professional knowledge and skills application, section operation specifications, UAV production processes, quality control specifications and other knowledge." It is reported that the courses, textbooks and contents of Chengdu Aviation Vocational and Technical College are all derived from the real production scenes, real production tasks and real production cases of enterprises. At present, the school has built 61 training bases with 83 enterprises, allowing students to have a "zero distance" between the classroom and the enterprise production line.

Huo Lijuan said that in recent years, the overall planning power of local governments and the autonomy of vocational schools have been significantly strengthened, so vocational schools can independently control the direction according to the actual situation when adjusting their majors to match the needs of industry and regional economic development. "The professional structure of vocational education is highly matched with the development needs of modern industries, which is a key link to effectively improve the quality of vocational education, enhance the adaptability and attractiveness of vocational education, and also an important cornerstone to support Chinese modernization and manufacturing power," said Huo Lijuan.

(Reporter Sun Mingyuan)

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