The Development Path and Adaptation of China’s Higher Vocational Education Towards Southeast Asia

Since the formalization of the China-ASEAN “strategic partnership” and the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has emerged as ASEAN’s largest trading partner, exerting growing economic influence across Southeast Asia. This geopolitical shift has catalyzed a surge in educational exchanges, with China’s higher vocational education (HVE) systems demonstrating heightened appeal to Southeast Asian students. This trend is driven by a convergence of factors: while Southeast Asia’s higher education sectors grapple with systemic challenges—including mismatches between talent cultivation and industrial demands, acute shortages of qualified instructors, and deficits in practical pedagogical capacities—the institutional frameworks of the BRI and China-ASEAN cooperation platforms provide critical enabling environments for cross-border educational collaboration. To leverage these synergies, Chinese higher education institutions are adopting diversified strategies: establishing foundational assistance programs (e.g., equipment donations, joint curriculum development), fostering bilateral faculty exchange mechanisms, designing localized student recruitment initiatives, and creating overseas internship pipelines. These measures not only address vocational education gaps in Southeast Asia but also enhance China’s soft power projection within the region.