Low-altitude aircraft equipment technology, automotive chip and software engineering technology, digital legal services... These brand-new programs are among the 57 new additions in the latest "2025 Supplementary List of Vocational Education Programs" released by the Ministry of Education. In December 2025, the Ministry issued a notice regarding the management of vocational education program settings for 2026 enrollment, simultaneously publishing this supplementary list which covers 23 vocational undergraduate programs, 31 higher vocational college programs, and 3 secondary vocational programs.
"This directory focuses on the needs of modern industrial system construction, revealing a shift in China's technical skill talent training system—from offering programs based on available resources to establishing programs based on market demand," said Nie Wei, Associate Researcher at the Vocational and Continuing Education Institute of the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences. "Most of these new programs are set up according to national key industrial chains, aligning with national strategies and targeting high-end industries or the high-end segment of industries."
Among the new additions, Xi'an Aeronautical Polytechnic Institute applied for the "Low-altitude Aircraft Equipment Technology" program, meaning the institute's 2026 enrollment blueprint will gain a new element, with the first cohort of students for this program expected in September this year.
"This application was based on the institute's existing program reserves and the needs of social industry development," revealed Ye Ting, Dean of the General Aviation College at the institute. She noted that the institute has consistently focused on the low-altitude economy sector, covering core areas from production manufacturing to key assembly, debugging, control operations, and later-stage maintenance within its program cluster development. "Although there wasn't a dedicated 'Low-altitude Aircraft Equipment Technology' program before, the course content involved in this program already had corresponding curriculum setups and program development targeted at specific job positions," Ye Ting stated.
In Ye Ting's view, the formal establishment of the "Low-altitude Aircraft Equipment Technology" program signifies clearer specific tasks for collaborative talent cultivation between the institute and enterprises, with a more defined training direction.
According to Nie Wei's analysis, looking at the layout of new programs, the orientation towards serving national strategy is particularly significant: within the equipment manufacturing category, programs like Low-altitude Aircraft Equipment Technology and Low-altitude Aircraft Engineering Technology respond to the low-altitude economic development strategy; newly added programs in the electronics and information category, such as Intelligent Agent Technology Application and Xinchuang System Technology Application, directly address the wave of artificial intelligence and the demand for information technology application innovation.
Notably, the establishment of the vocational undergraduate program "Automotive Chip and Software Engineering Technology" fills a gap for key talent in the automotive industry, analyzed Ouyang Boyi, Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Hunan Automotive Engineering Vocational University.
"The automotive industry is undergoing a profound transformation period defined by 'software-defined vehicles' and 'chips determining performance.' Talent with traditional mechanical or vehicle engineering backgrounds struggle to meet new demands in chip design verification, underlying software, and system integration. This program setting not only targets the automotive industry's 'chip shortage' pain point but also reflects vocational education's determination to ascend the high-end industrial chain," Ouyang Boyi said.
Nie Wei believes another significant characteristic of the new vocational programs is the trend towards cross-integration. In fact, program names like Low-altitude Intelligent Networking Technology and Digital Twin Application Technology themselves break through traditional disciplinary boundaries.
"For example, the 'Automotive Chip and Software Engineering Technology' program belongs to both the automotive category and the information technology category; it involves interdisciplinary studies. Similar issues of program归属 were encountered during the research and论证 of other programs, spanning different professional categories, making交叉融合 programs a new trend," Nie Wei said.
This交叉性 is not only evident in technical fields. The appearance of the vocational undergraduate program "Business-Finance Integrated Management" in the finance and business category reflects the deep integration of business processes and financial management. Nie Wei used the accounting profession as an example: "Employment is difficult for traditional accounting and finance talent; with the advent of artificial intelligence, such traditional talent faces the risk of being replaced. Therefore, the setup of 'Business-Finance Integrated Management' aims to encourage this industry to practice finance integrated with industry, i.e., business-finance integration."
Nie Wei told reporters that this program adjustment also exhibits characteristics of refinement and specialization. Compared to the broader program settings of the past, the new directory responds to industrial needs more precisely: "Newly emerging programs are a manifestation of refined social division of labor. Previous program settings were relatively broad; for instance, the previously existing New Energy Vehicle Technology program covered too wide a scope, so now related new energy vehicle programs have been divided more finely. This requires schools to shift from the 'small logic' of their own development to the 'big logic' of serving economic and social development, moving from establishing programs based on their own reality to establishing programs based on national economic development needs and regional social development needs." Nie Wei emphasized that this shift has already been reflected during the implementation of the second phase of the "Double High Plan" for higher vocational colleges, where programs aligning with national strategic needs received priority support.
"Of course, the implementation of new programs still faces practical challenges. Hardware constraints like teaching faculty and practical training conditions limit the quality of program delivery, especially for cutting-edge technology fields such as semiconductors and chips," Nie Wei stated frankly, noting that these programs require more investment and specialized teachers, "otherwise, it's very difficult to run them well."
From a talent cultivation perspective, the new programs also place higher demands on students' knowledge structures. Ouyang Boyi illustrated this using the Automotive Chip and Software Engineering Technology program: "The training objectives clearly point towards roles like Automotive Chip Application Engineer, Automotive Software Engineer (underlying/middleware), Vehicle System Test Engineer, and Electronic Control System Integration Engineer, rather than chip design scientists or algorithm researchers, emphasizing 'engineering implementation.'"
This training model targeting specific positions requires students to possess interdisciplinary learning abilities and engineering practical skills. Ouyang Boyi suggested that students during their studies should "actively participate in school-enterprise cooperation projects, strive to obtain industry certifications, and accumulate practical project experience through competitions or internships."
This program supplement also reflects structural optimization within the vocational education system itself, with a significant increase in the number of vocational undergraduate programs. Nie Wei mentioned this change: "When the program directory was formulated in 2021, there were fewer vocational undergraduate programs. With the accelerated layout of vocational undergraduate education in recent years, the program settings for vocational undergraduate education need to keep pace and address shortcomings to meet the needs of schools."
From a broader perspective, the adjustment of the program directory represents the national talent training system's active adaptation to industrial transformation. Ouyang Boyi pointed out that the new programs "provide a model for the digital transformation of vocational education programs and跨学科 reform," while simultaneously pushing "industry-education integration to new heights."
"The setup of these 57 new programs is both a concrete implementation of vocational education's response to the '16th Five-Year Plan' suggestions and a key measure in constructing a modern vocational education system. As these programs are gradually implemented, China's vocational education will more precisely serve the construction of a modern industrial system, providing more solid talent support for high-quality economic development," Nie Wei said.
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