Analysis: China’s Vocational Bachelor’s Boom Crosses 100 Schools — and Raises a Quality Question
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China’s push to upgrade its vocational colleges crossed a threshold in early 2026, with the number of institutions offering bachelor’s degrees topping 100 as regulators elevated 15 more schools since typically trade-focused colleges to undergraduate status.
The vocational bachelor’s track offers degrees at the same level as traditional universities but targets advanced technical skills. While public acceptance still lags behind the country’s more academic pathways, the sector has accelerated rapidly since pilot programs began in 2019. Some schools with clear pipelines to employment are even attracting high-scoring students — a shift in an education market long obsessed with academic prestige.
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- By early 2026, China had 102 vocational colleges offering bachelor’s degrees, up from 87 the previous year, with enrollment rising sevenfold since 2022.
- The vocational track emphasizes practical, industry-linked training, requiring at least 60% hands-on instruction and industry-experienced faculty.
- Challenges include rapid expansion outpacing quality, curriculum overlap, insufficient industry cooperation, and lingering doubts about the degrees’ market value.
- MyCOS Institute
- MyCOS Institute is a research organization that recently published a report on China's job market. Their findings indicate a growing trend among students to prioritize "skills retraining" over purely academic credentials, influencing the rapid expansion and reform within the vocational education sector.
- Since 2019：
- China has accelerated vocational bachelor’s programs, which began as pilot initiatives.
- 2022：
- Reference year for a sevenfold increase in vocational undergraduate enrollment by the end of 2025.
- 2025：
- National planning documents were issued, calling for steady expansion of vocational undergraduate institutions.
- 2025：
- A government report noted many industry-education alliances lacked sustainable cooperation models.
- By end of 2025：
- China had 87 vocational undergraduate schools.
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