普及化阶段的高等职业教育——美国的经验和中国的展望

Higher Vocational Education in the Process of Popularization——Experience in America and outlook in China

通过应用日本学者金子元久普及化理论的分析框架,从就学者和院校机构两个维度客观描述了中美两国高等职业教育在普及化阶段的横向扩大、纵向延长及高质量无边界化三个侧面的变化。梳理发现在扩大就学者高等教育入学机会方面,中国的高等职业教育以适龄和低收入家庭背景的学生为主,美国则以非全日制、非传统年龄、女性学生为主,并显著推进了少数族群的教育公平。顺应进入普及化阶段的需要,中美高等职业院校在多样性、多功能性和开放性方面都进行了很多实践,且形成了以公立职业院校为主,私立院校为辅的体系。未来中国高等职业教育应平衡入学机会扩大和质量提升问题,回应人口结构、经济结构及社会价值观和行为的变化,积极融入终身教育体系,成为推进高等教育普及化的排头兵。

Based on the theory of Japanese scholar Kaneko Motohisa as analysis framework, this paper objectively describe three changes in higher vocational education in China and America, from perspectives of enrolled students and educational institutions： the horizontal expansion, the vertical extension and the borderlessness of high quality in the process of popularization. In aspect of enlarging higher educational enrollment, students who are of college age and from low-income families account most for Chinese higher vocational education, while in American higher vocational education, there are mostly part-time, overage or female students, and students from racial and ethnic minorities as well, which promotes education equality in racial groups. To comply with the requirements of popularization, both China and America have conducted practice on diversity, versatility and openness in higher vocational education, where there are mainly public schools, supplemented by private schools. In the future, higher vocational education in China should attach importance to the balance of enlarging enrollment and quality improvement, respond to variation of demographic structure, economic structure and social values and behaviors, and engage actively into life-long education system, to be at the forefront of advancing popularization of higher education.