Specialist examination piloted for nation’s vocational students
Print Edition
WHILE the first day of the annual college entrance exam was the main event for 9.4 million youngsters yesterday, many others were focused on a new test being piloted for those seeking entry to vocational schools.
Currently applicants for both universities and vocational colleges sit the same exam on June 7 and 8 each year.
Of the 6.98 million places available this year, 3.35 million are at vocational colleges. These institutions admit students from ordinary high schools and vocational schools and offer two or three years of further education.
Since 2006, a number of such colleges have been allowed to host their own entry exams, in a bid to streamline vocational education.
Lao Hansheng, president of Guangdong Engineering Polytechnic in south China, said that the national exam is not an efficient way to recruit students to vocational colleges like his.
“The national exam tests math, writing, reading and other academic abilities. Vocational colleges have lower requirements in these areas, but higher requirements for skills relevant to each particular course,” Lao said.
Independent entry exams designed by the colleges themselves include skill tests, which at Lao’s college are related to construction engineering.
“We want students who are interested in our courses and talented in the field, not those who simply score badly in the national exam,” he said.
Since the trial began in 2006, about 500 vocational colleges, 40 percent of the total, have joined. About a third of the students at vocational colleges were enrolled in this way in 2012.
Huang Mengfei, a first-year student at Guangdong Engineering Polytechnic, was one of 40,000 vocational college students in Guangdong that bypassed the 2013 national college entry exam.
Compared with his classmates in high school, Huang had to plan his career early.
“I had to be really sure of my choice,” Huang said. “I had to decide what kind of job I wanted to do, while my classmates can wait until they graduate.”
He said he wants to be a quantity surveyor. He will study for two years and then complete a third year as an intern at a construction firm.
“I’m quite confident I can find a good job. Graduates of my major are popular,” Huang said.
The Ministry of Education is considering offering two kinds of national entry exams. Lu Xin, vice minister of education, said in March that the exam for people interested in vocational education will include tests on academic knowledge and professional skills, while the test for those interested in academia will keep the current setup.
In central China’s Hubei Province a similar system has been tested. It’s not only vocational colleges that admit students through the standardized entry exam with additional skill tests, but some university departments too.
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