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Exploring vocational education at the undergraduate level and advancing the development of vocational undergraduate institutions are crucial for improving the modern vocational education system, addressing the realistic needs of economic and industrial transformation, and aligning with the trend of differentiated higher education development. The evolution of vocational undergraduate education in China can be divided into three stages: the framework construction and exploration phase, the critical phase of expansion and quality improvement, and the phase of deepening connotations and development. The practices of vocational undergraduate education in China exhibit three key characteristics: diverse and innovative approaches, industry-education integration with collaborative governance, and regulated operations under the standard-guidance. To further develop vocational undergraduate education, it is proposed to clarify institutional positioning to avoid “academic drift”, emphasize serving industries by cultivating innovative talent, promote the internationalization of vocational education to achieve industry-education alignment, and facilitate high-quality employment to reshape value recognition.

The Luban Workshop represents a quintessential model of China’s international vocational education cooperation. From the perspective of structuration theory, this study conducts an in-depth analysis of the key elements underpinning the high-quality development of Luban Workshops globally and explores effective pathways for international vocational education collaboration through this initiative. The findings hold significant implications for strengthening China’s proactive stance in opening-up and advancing higher-quality global engagement. The research identifies three critical success factors for Luban Workshop to be a distinguished international vocational education brand: institutional development, resource allocation, and multi-actor participation. Regarding institutional frameworks, Luban Workshops have established comprehensive formal systems alongside effective informal mechanisms. In terms of resource development, human capital, information networks, cultural assets, and technological resources collectively form the essential foundation for their high-quality operation. The ecosystem features diverse stakeholders, including sovereign states, administrative bodies, coordination agencies, participating institutions, multinational and local enterprises, and civil society actors who constitute the core collaborative network driving the workshops’ development. These elements collectively represent actionable pathways for cultivating globally recognized vocational education partnerships.

This paper assesses the effectiveness and reaches of social marketing interventions in the period between 2018 and 2020 by the General Department of TVET, Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT)’s Department of Labor Market Information (DLMI) in Cambodia. Conducted with a mixed-method design in eight provinces using questionnaires for 788 high school students and 1,404 TVET students, the research determines how social marketing campaigns, both digital and conventional, especially using Facebook, TV, posters, and seminars, shape public opinion and student enrollment in vocational schools. The results point to social marketing’s strong effect on awareness but suggest that more efforts are required to engage parents and break recurrent stereotypes against TVET. Recommendations are provided for strengthening strategy in using early interventions, dissemination of labor market information, and multi-channel outreach.

The Tianjin Consensus released at the 2024 World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference outlines a blueprint for the development of global vocational and technical education and sketches the “4S” action framework for international exchange and cooperation in vocational education: advocating the concept of Sharing in international exchange and cooperation in vocational education; prioritizing Skills in areas such as vocational skills, digital skills, and green skills; focusing on System building as the core to lay the foundation for multi-stakeholder connectivity; and improving vocational education Standards to ensure the quality of international exchange and cooperation in vocational education.

Taking comparative education perspectives and typological education theory as the analytical framework, this paper examines the evolutionary logic of China’s vocational education in terms of institutional construction, reform pathways, and cultural tension, and reveals its structural dilemma between institutional legitimacy and social recognition. By comparing Germany’s industry co-governance model, France’s qualification hierarchy and outcome transformation mechanisms, and Japan’s enterprise-oriented and job-matching approach, the study analyzes how these three countries address the tensions inherent in vocational education as well as the limitations of their respective approaches. The research argues that China’s typological reform should, in governance, strengthen multi-stakeholder co-governance; in reform pathways, improve outcome transfer and vertical articulation; and in institutional culture, enhance legitimacy and social recognition, thereby realizing the transition from policy advocacy to institutional stabilization. Through this comparative study, the paper seeks to uncover shared structural logics and propose locally generated pathways across the three dimensions of governance, pathways, and social identity, offering theoretical support and international reference for the typological reform of vocational education with Chinese characteristics.

Globally, teachers hold a pivotal role in the professionalization of the TVET sector. However, there are still limited initiatives aimed at developing comprehensive approaches to equipping TVET educators with the competencies required for effective teaching and learning in technical vocational education and training (TVET). This paper underscores the necessity for TVET teachers to possess an integrated set of competencies. On one side, they require domain-specific expertise linked to their professional field, while on the other side, they must demonstrate personal, social, and work-process-related skills, alongside pedagogical and methodological-didactical abilities at a scientifically sound level. Cultivating these competencies and enabling teachers to carry out their responsibilities demand a sophisticated combination of the aforementioned competence areas, particularly integrating the aspects of “vocational pedagogy” and professional expertise as a “subject”. The paper’s argumentation is supported by a comparative analysis of teacher training strategies in various countries, highlighting international efforts to meet this challenge. Moreover, the paper examines initiatives led by political organizations to establish standards that reflect the intricate nature of teaching competencies.

As an important vehicle for the internationalization of China’s vocational education, the Luban Workshop has gradually formed a prototype of large-scale deployment and institutionalized cooperation among the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states. It has become a key pivot for promoting the construction of a regional vocational education community. Guided by the concept of “Sense of Gain”, this paper systematically analyzes the practical logic and operational effectiveness of Luban Workshops in SCO countries. In practice, Luban Workshop enhances the participants’ tangible and perceivable benefits from three dimensions – sense of gain from skills education, sense of gain from career development, and sense of gain from cultural identity – through curriculum localization, industry-education integration, and intercultural exchange platforms. It has gradually established a discourse system centered on joint consultation, co-construction and sharing, as well as empowerment through vocational education. However, challenges remain, such as insufficient local integration, weak school-enterprise cooperation mechanisms, limited discourse communication and cultural identity, and a lack of coordination among multiple actors. To address these issues, efforts should be made to strengthen platform capacity building, optimize value communication, and improve governance mechanisms. The study shows that the Luban Workshop is not only a forefront platform for the “going global” of China’s vocational education, but also an important carrier for constructing the SCO vocational education community.

The integration of vocational and academic education serves as an effective pathway to bridge the divide inherent in the vocational-academic dichotomy and represents a critical initiative for advancing educational modernization. This study systematically examines the historical evolution and development models of vocational-academic integration in the UK. Findings reveal that since the establishment of a vocational education system in the 19th century, its integration with academic education has progressed through six distinct phases: a pre-1944 divergence period, the replacement of the tripartite system with comprehensive secondary schools (1944–1970s), the introduction of National Vocational Qualifications Under New Vocationalism in the 1980s, the formation of a triple-track system with General National Vocational Qualifications in 1990, the gradual construction of unified frameworks post-2000, and the post-2015 transition from T Levels to the Advanced British Standard. Integration manifests in diverse forms, encompassing both the pluralistic models of comprehensive schools and the progressive unification of qualification frameworks. The driving forces behind this integration in the UK stem not only from inter-party political contestation but also from underlying economic imperatives. Currently, the UK is advancing the convergence and alignment of vocational and academic education through the Advanced British Standard. Drawing lessons from the British experience, other nations may promote educational equity by establishing comprehensive secondary schools and creating national qualifications frameworks to facilitate vocational-academic integration. Additionally, implementing credit transfer mechanisms can offer personalized developmental pathways, thereby narrowing socioeconomic disparities in education and supporting the construction of a skills-oriented society.