As China advances its strategy of high-quality opening-up, a growing number of domestic companies are integrating more deeply into the global marketplace. Concurrently, the spillover effects of these enterprises "going global" are expanding significantly. Within this trend, the large-scale international expansion of China's vocational education system has emerged as a new norm for production capacity cooperation and industry-education integration between China and other nations. It also serves as a new emblem of China's economic "soft power," providing a fresh channel for the "China model" to gain broader international recognition.
Being the world's largest trader in goods and the second-largest in services, Chinese products and services have a global reach. The continual upgrading of China's trade structure towards the mid-to-high end of the value chain has created substantial demand for training more personnel skilled in operating and utilizing advanced equipment and technologies. Statistics indicate that China currently maintains trade relations with over 240 countries and regions.
On one hand, China's outbound investment has increased markedly. By the end of 2025, Chinese enterprises had established more than 50,000 overseas entities across 190 countries and regions. China's outward investment stock has remained among the top three globally for nine consecutive years. In 2025 alone, foreign direct investment reached $174.38 billion, a 7.1% year-on-year increase, firmly positioning China at the forefront globally.
On the other hand, the export share of high-tech and green products continues to rise. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that China's high-tech product exports grew by 13.2% year-on-year in 2025. Exports of specialized equipment, high-end machine tools, and industrial robots increased by 20.6%, 21.5%, and 48.7% respectively. Notably, exports of industrial robots surpassed imports. In the green energy sector, exports of lithium batteries and wind turbine generators grew by 26.2% and 48.7% respectively. In green transportation, exports of electric motorcycles and bicycles increased by 18.1%, while exports of railway electric locomotives rose by 27.1%.
This expansion has correspondingly increased international demand for personnel skilled in production, operation, debugging, and maintenance, creating an objective need for the global expansion of vocational education.
"Vocational Education Goes Global" refers to the internationalization of China's vocational education systems, standards, curricula, teaching staff, and equipment, representing a new form of trade in services and labor cooperation. China's efforts to promote the "going global" of vocational education can be traced back to 2016, with the establishment of the first "Luban Workshop" in Thailand. As a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative framework, the "Luban Workshop" aims to build platforms specifically for training technical talent for China-supported projects, serving the overseas development needs of Chinese enterprises and cultivating local technical skills.
After years of development, China has built the world's largest vocational education system, providing a solid foundation for its international expansion. Currently, Chinese vocational institutions supply over 10 million graduates to the society annually. Graduates from these institutions constitute more than 70% of new frontline employees in modern manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, and modern services. The total number of skilled workers in China exceeds 220 million, with high-skilled talent surpassing 72 million, providing robust human resource support for achieving high-level technological self-reliance and building a modern industrial system.
On this foundation, China's vocational education development model has evolved from primarily learning from other countries to becoming a crucial link based on domestic practices that serves production capacity cooperation. In essence, "Vocational Education Goes Global" is not merely about labor export; it is a systematic project that actively integrates vocational education into international production capacity cooperation and serves the strategic development of economic globalization. It not only trains workers but also strongly supports the overseas transfer of China's industrial ecosystems, industry standards, and business operation models.
Today, Chinese vocational education has cultivated a portfolio of international brands, including Luban Workshop, "Chinese Language + Vocational Skills," Zhejiang's "Silk Road College," Jiangsu's "Zheng He College," and Shandong's "Ban-Mo College." Together, they form a diverse and flourishing landscape of overseas educational operations.
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Throughout the process of internationalizing vocational education, both the Chinese government and enterprises have accumulated valuable experience. This endeavor represents not just a transfer of technology but also a cultural exchange. Therefore, continuously focusing on respecting local educational traditions and social values, strengthening the "Language + Skills + Culture" curriculum system, and establishing risk early-warning mechanisms for overseas operations are essential paths for further expanding the scale and improving the quality of vocational education. This is also a beneficial way to continuously enhance China's soft power.
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