China's Ministry of Education has recently completed the process of supplementing the 2026 Vocational Education Professional Catalog, adding a total of 27 new vocational undergraduate and junior college majors. This includes 9 higher vocational junior college majors and 18 vocational undergraduate majors, spanning 14 major categories and 20 professional classes. Majors serve as the fundamental units for talent cultivation.
This supplement to the professional catalog is closely aligned with the national "15th Five-Year Plan" outline and the "15th Five-Year Plan for Education Development." It is tightly focused on building a modern industrial system and promoting the high-quality and efficient development of the service industry. The additions precisely target new industries, new business models, new scenarios, and new modes, aiming to cultivate high-skilled talent. The emphasis is on establishing a batch of majors in key areas such as the digital economy, low-altitude economy, artificial intelligence, high-end equipment, urban renewal, and fields with urgent public demand.
For instance, to support the expansion and quality improvement of the service industry, new vocational undergraduate majors like technical brokerage services and low-altitude transportation engineering technology have been added in the producer services sector, aiding industries in moving up the value chain. In the consumer services sector, higher vocational junior college majors such as infant and toddler family nurturing and guidance, and travel-based health and wellness operation and management have been established to address skill gaps in public service areas.
Based on the developmental needs at the forefront of industry, the initiative actively aligns with new occupations and positions from the "National Occupational Classification Dictionary." It focuses on deploying new majors in key sectors like the digital economy and green economy. In response to new professions like robotics engineering technicians, vocational undergraduate and junior college majors such as humanoid robotics engineering technology, digital twin engineering technology, and vehicle-to-everything communication technology have been added. Centering on green energy sectors like hydrogen energy and energy storage, majors including hydrogen energy engineering technology (vocational undergraduate) and smart operation and maintenance technology for energy storage materials and equipment (higher vocational junior college) have been established to precisely fill skill gaps in cutting-edge fields.
This supplement fully relies on industry-education integration consortia and city-level industry-education alliances, translating the real needs from the industrial front line and core demands from enterprises into the basis for professional setup. For example, leveraging the urban renewal industry-education integration consortium, precise assessments of talent shortages in areas like building inspections, structural reinforcement, and intelligent retrofitting within civil engineering have been conducted, leading to the addition of the urban renewal design technology vocational undergraduate major. Relying on the Deyang Major Technical Equipment Manufacturing City-level Industry-Education Alliance, a deep dive into the rigid demand for positions in equipment manufacturing, such as equipment fault diagnosis, precision non-destructive testing, and smart quality inspection, has resulted in the addition of the smart non-destructive testing technology vocational undergraduate major. By utilizing the vocational education high-skilled talent cluster cultivation plan, a batch of urgently needed majors have been added to serve major projects like plateau railways, major strategies like urban renewal, and public welfare areas such as childcare and elderly care.
Since the release of the "Vocational Education Professional Catalog (2021)," vocational education has continuously optimized its professional offerings in line with industrial development needs. Regular annual supplements have been carried out, cumulatively adding 169 new majors, which accounts for 11% of the total number of majors in the catalog. This ongoing effort continuously improves the alignment between the professional structure and industrial demands.
Comments