Redesigning vocational curriculum: A program cluster-based approach for higher vocational colleges in China

The construction of program clusters has become the main approach for higher vocational colleges to implement the cultivation of comprehensive technical talents, with the most important aspect being the integration of curricula between different programs. Based on field investigation and case study, we found that developing program clusters mainly follow the pathway of aligning with enterprise job standards, observing working process, focusing on typical work projects, drawing capability map, updating curriculum content or developing new curriculum content, and adopting the curriculum framework of "platform + module + direction". However, due to the different links of the industrial chain that program clusters served, the curricula will also present a different structure. We inductively identified three types of curriculum frameworks, the mutual integration module curriculum that serves the short and complete industrial chain, the separate module curriculum that serves the long and complete industrial chain, and the mixed module curriculum that serves the midstream and downstream of the industrial chain.