Discussion on Developing Higher Vocational Education at Undergraduate Course Level in Shandong Province

To develop higher vocational education at undergraduate level is to meet the objective needs for modern economic development. It is an inevitable requirement for perfecting the higher vocational education structure in China and also an urgent need for the popularity of higher education in China. This paper discusses the definition of higher vocational education’s connotation and the school-running orientation, analyzes the present situations of higher vocational education in Shandong, puts forward the tactics and ways for developing higher vocational education at undergraduate level in Shandong province.

As a well-developed economic province, Shandong's economic structure has gained fast development during the "11th five-year" period.In the "11th five-year" plan, Shandong aims at building a strong economic province, especially strengthening the modern manufacture and new industrial development, realizing the adjustment of industrial structure and the conversion of economic growth modes.The actualization of peninsular city group strategy, the expedition of urbanization, and the transfer of rural labors need to speed up the development of higher vocational education and training, what means more requirements for the quality and scale of higher vocational education.Therefore, to develop higher vocational education at undergraduate level is on the agenda.More and more people realize its importance.Presently in Shandong province there are 69 independent higher vocational colleges.The students in higher vocational colleges account for more than 50% of total students in higher colleges, so does the planned enrolling students in Shandong province.Higher vocational education has already taken on greater responsibilities for Shandong's higher education.However, in the author's opinion, Shandong's higher vocational education does not clearly establish the objectives of training, levels and orientation of running schools, and direction of development.

The definition of higher vocational education's connotation
Higher vocational education is an important component of higher education, which is a higher stage of vocational education, with the dual property of both higher education and vocational education.The so-called property of higher education means higher education in the educational aspect.Higher vocational education is relative to primary and middle vocational education, emphasizing on the vertical orientation in training objectives.The so-called property of vocational education means it aims at training technology-applied talents whose knowledge and ability structure stress on the special vocational orientation.Higher vocational education is to cultivate technology-applied talents who master necessary theoretical knowledge, possess stronger abilities in practice, and can adapt to the front needs in production, construction, management, and service.
Higher vocational education can provide specialized education, undergraduate education, and master education.In the International Standard Classification of Education edited by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the whole education system is divided into seven levels.The fifth level is the first stage of higher education, including the 5A type and the 5B type.The 5A higher education emphasizes on theories and helps to prepare for researches and high-tech professional jobs, while the 5B higher education on practices, techniques, and specialized vocations.Both can include many levels, such as specialized education, undergraduate education, and master education.The essential difference between higher vocational education and other education is the students' difference in types, instead of levels.

The orientation of higher vocational education's training objectives
The Ministry of Education, in its suggestions for enhancing the talents cultivation in higher vocational education, points out: "higher vocational education is an important component of China's higher education; cultivate all-round developed and high-tech applied talents who insist on the party's basic line, and meet and frond need of production, construction, management, and service; students should control necessary theoretical and specialized knowledge, especially the primary abilities and techniques needed in real work; they should keep better professional morals and dedications."In a word, higher vocational education is a kind of technological and vocational education based on the high school education, with property of higher education.It aims at cultivating all-round developed technology-applied talents and high-tech talents who meet the front needs of production, business, and service, in order to catch up with the international competition.

The present conditions of Shandong's vocational education
Since in 1999 China determines to expedite the development of higher education, the scale of higher vocational education in Shandong province has gained fast development.The students in higher vocational colleges account for more than 50% of total students in higher colleges, so does the planned enrolling students in Shandong province.Higher vocational education has already shouldered greater responsibilities for Shandong's higher education, contributing a lot to the popularity of higher education in Shandong province.The school-running idea, taking the service as the tenet, and employment as direction, has come into being.Some common colleges provide with higher vocational education at undergraduate level.Problems as follow still exist in two aspects.
(1) Inexact orientation of training objectives.The higher vocational education at undergraduate level is a new-developed thing in recent years in Shandong province.At present, the higher vocational education at undergraduate level is still at an exploring and experimenting stage.The different understandings toward higher vocational education at undergraduate level lead to inexact orientation of training objectives, without special characteristics.In practices, there are two trends: firstly, take the higher vocational education at undergraduate level as four-year specialized higher vocational education, simply enriching and expanding former specialized higher vocational education's training plans, running the higher vocational education at undergraduate level according to ideas and directions of former specialized higher vocational education; secondly, take the higher vocational education at undergraduate level as common higher education.The two trends can not embody the uniqueness of higher vocational education at undergraduate level, which make it fail to exert its effects on cultivating high-tech applied talents, and even lose its values.Meanwhile, the two trends will impact the whole development of higher vocational education negatively.
(2) No colleges provide with higher vocational education at undergraduate level in Shandong province.
According to the International Standard Classification of Education edited by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), higher vocational education should provide specialized education, undergraduate education, and master education.In the school aspect, colleges should provide with higher vocational education at undergraduate level.However, it is still an absence in Shandong province, which does not match the economic and social development in the province.Therefore, it is urgent for us to perfect Shandong's higher vocational education structure and construct one or even more colleges based on higher vocational education mode.

Ways and measures for developing Shandong's higher vocational education at undergraduate level
(1) Scientific orientation Higher vocational education at undergraduate level is a kind of applicable higher education.It follows the Ministry of Education's Suggestions for Deepening the Employment-Oriented Reform of Higher Vocational Education, taking service as the tenet, social needs and employment as the direction, learning advanced school-running ideas and experiences from foreign countries, insisting on the close cooperation of industry, university, and research institutes, cultivating the high-tech and managing-applied special talents who meet the front needs of different industries with excellent vocational competence, super specialized techniques, strong innovation consciousness, and sustaining study potentials, and making them possess life-long learning ideas and sustainable development potentials.