Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in Asia: History, Present, and Future Issues 9781138224575, 9781315402024

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Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in Asia

It has been over a century since “Cooperative System of Education,” a workstudy programme for higher education, was initiated by Herman Schneider at the University of Cincinnati in the United States. Today, it is known as “Cooperative Education” which is commonly included within the umbrella term of “Work-Integrated Learning” and broadly referred to by the World Association of Cooperative Education (WACE) as “Cooperative and Work- Integrated Education (CWIE).” Its development worldwide has been closely related to the socioeconomic background of the region. This book offers the first attempt to focus on the development of CWIE in Asia. To date, the development of CWIE in the Asia region has been slow compared to their counterparts. The analysis follows international comparisons of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore on their educational history, vocational education, CWIE and future issues. Although the level of development varies among them, there is no doubt that this region as a whole is experiencing a rapidly growing global demographic and economic prominence. CWIE can, and to some extent already does, play an important, supportive role as part of growth. The book goes on to conclude that in order to enable further successful expansion of CWIE, and improve its best practice, it is imperative to establish national and regional associations for CWIE, as well as establish collaborative research activities across the region with governmental funding support. Yasushi Tanaka is Professor at the Faculty of Economics and a committee member of Center of Research for Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan. Karsten E. Zegwaard is the Director of Cooperative Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning (formally called the Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education), and Vice President of the New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education.

Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education

This is a series that offers a global platform to engage scholars in continuous academic debate on key challenges and the latest thinking on issues in the fastgrowing field of International and Comparative Education. Titles in the series include: Educational Choices, Transitions and Aspirations in Europe Systemic, Institutional and Subjective Constraints Edited by Aina Tarabini and Nicola Ingram Testing and Inclusive Schooling International Challenges and Opportunities Edited by Bjørn Hamre, Anne Morin and Christian Ydesen Higher Education and China’s Global Rise A Neo-tributary Perspective Su-Yan Pan and Joe Tin-Yau Lo Actionable Research for Educational Equity and Social Justice Higher Education Reform in China and Beyond Edited by Wang Chen, Edward P. St. John, Xu Li, and Cliona Hannont Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in Asia History, Present, and Future Issues Edited by Yasushi Tanaka and Karsten E. Zegwaard

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Rout ledge-Research-in-International-and-Comparative-Education/book-series/ RRICE

Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in Asia

History, Present, and Future Issues Edited by Yasushi Tanaka and Karsten E. Zegwaard

First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Yasushi Tanaka and Karsten E. Zegwaard; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Yasushi Tanaka and Karsten E. Zegwaard to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-22457-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-40202-4 (ebk) Typeset in Galliard by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Contents

Notes on contributors Preface  1 Introduction

vii ix

1

YASUSHI TANAKA

  2 Cooperative education practice in China

7

TENGGANG XU

  3 History, present state, and future issues of cooperative and work-integrated education in Japan

25

YASUSHI TANAKA

  4 Korea’s cooperative education experience: focusing on the design, operation, and proliferation of KOREATECH’s cooperative education programme

43

CHANG HEON OH AND KIYONG OM

  5 Cooperative and work-integrated education in Hong Kong and work-integrated education at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

63

YASUSHI TANAKA AND MELINA LAI

  6 The education system and cooperative and work-integrated education system in Vietnam: an overview

83

VAN N.B. NGUYEN, HUYEN T.H. NGUYEN, AND THAO PHAN

  7 Development of cooperative and work-integrated education in Thailand: looking back, looking now, and looking forward WICHIT SRISA-AN AND ISSRA PRAMOOLSOOK

105

vi  Contents   8 University-industry collaboration: Malaysia skills development for producing employable graduates

128

NOR IDAYU MAHAT, MOHD SOBRI DON, MOHAMED MUSTAFA ISHAK, AND HARTINI AHMAD

  9 The history and development of CWIE in Singapore with a Nanyang Technological University case study

153

KELVIN LEE

10 Cooperative education in the Asian region: future development and direction

176

KARSTEN E. ZEGWAARD

Index

185

Contributors

Hartini Ahmad is Associate Professor of Management at the School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia. Nor Idayu Mahat is Associate Professor of Statistics at the School of Quantitative Science and Director of the Centre for Testing, Measurement and Appraisal, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia. Mohd Sobri Don is Associate Professor of International Business at School of International Studies and Director of the Centre for University-Industry Collaboration, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia. Melina Lai is Director of Office of Career and Placement Services, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Mohamed Mustafa Ishak is Professor of Political Sociology at the School of International Studies and Vice Chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia. Kelvin Lee is Senior Assistant Director of Career & Attachment Office of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Huyen T.H. Nguyen is a PhD candidate at the School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Australia and a senior lecturer at the Nursing Department of Tropical and Contagious Diseases, Hanoi Medical College, Vietnam. Van N.B. Nguyen currently works at the Alfred Health Clinical School, La Trobe University, Australia. Her role involves participation in research in varied topics and methodologies. Her current areas of interest include clinical nursing education, professional identity development, clinical trials and wound outcome research. She is also interested in expanding and collaborating with external researchers in health research projects. Chang Heon Oh is Professor at the School of Electrical, Electronics and Communication Eng., Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH), Republic of Korea.

viii  Contributors Kiyong Om is Professor at the School of Industrial Management, Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH), Republic of Korea. Thao Phan currently works at Thanh Do University, Ha Noi, Vietnam. She is in charge of the Department of International, Enrolment and Careers at this university. Issra Pramoolsook is the International Liaison Officer of the Thai Association for Cooperative Education (TACE) and Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching at Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), Thailand. Wichit Srisa-an is Thailand’s former Minister of Education and the Founding and current President of the Thai Association for Cooperative Education (TACE). Yasushi Tanaka is Professor at the Faculty of Economics and a committee member of the Center of Research for Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan. Tenggang Xu is Associate Professor and Dean of Sino-US Engineering School, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, People’s Republic of China. Karsten E. Zegwaard is the Director of Cooperative Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning (formally called the Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education), and Vice President of the New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education.

Preface

This book describes the development of Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in the Asian regions. The impetus of this book came from our involvement in the World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE). We felt that workand-study type programmes for higher education were not well-developed in Asia compared to those in North America, Oceania, and Europe. Yet, Asia is growing in economic prominence and has become a major economic power of the 21st century. In our minds, there is no doubt that work-and-study type programmes could contribute to Asia’s future economic prosperity. In 2015, we organised a session on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in Asia at the 19th World Conference of WACE held in Kyoto, Japan. Since then we have collaborated with researchers and leaders in Cooperative and WorkIntegrated Education, with this publication in mind. With the completion of this book, we sincerely hope that researchers and practitioners in the eight Asian regions will be encouraged to create stronger networks and collaborations. Such collaborations will help to further develop the best practice of Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education in Asia to the benefit of both the students partaking in these programmes and the economies of those countries. Finally, we would like to thank the WACE and its past CEO, Paul Stonely, for providing us with the opportunity to organise the session in Kyoto; Kristina Shen, a Co-op student from University of Victoria, Canada, for proofreading the manuscript; Katie Peace and ShengBin Tan of Routledge for accepting our publication request, and Kevin Kelsey and his team from Apex CoVantage for their excellent support at the final stage of the publication.

1 Introduction Yasushi Tanaka

The initial step for the investigation into Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education (CWIE) in Asia was made at the 19th WACE World Conference in 2015 at Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan, where a workshop was held on cooperative education in Asia. CWIE is a work-and-study programme provided at higher education institutions and WACE (World Association of Cooperative Education) is “the only international professional organisation dedicated to developing, expanding, branding and advocating for CWIE programmes within industry and educational institutions” (www.waceinc.org/about.html). It was the fourth world conference to be held in Asia. As this seems to suggest, the practice of CWIE is not well-developed or widely spread in Asia and even within Asia we hear little about CWIE outside East and South East Asia. As the organisers of the conference and considering the growing demographic and economic weights of Asia in the world economy, we felt it imperative to develop and spread the CWIE practice in Asia if this educational framework is to be the global standard of workand-study programmes for higher education. This book covers CWIE in eight Asian countries and region: China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. According to World Bank, 24% of the world population inhabited the area in 2016, which is more than that of North America, Europe, and Central Asia together, and generates 25% of the world’s GDP, which is about the same size as that of North America or Europe and Central Asia (World Bank, 2016). Undoubtedly, a development of CWIE in the area could play an important role for the world economy. The concept and practice of such a work-and-study programme is not new and vocational education programmes have been in existence in many parts of the world since long before CWIE. The difference, however, is that CWIE tends to aim at higher education, while vocational education is generally considered as an educational programme for secondary education. This would make sense when and where graduates were the minority and formed the cream of society. With rising income in industrialised countries which generates more demand for higher education, graduates are no longer the elites and they too need to compete in the crowded labour market. CWIE then becomes an important prerequisite for the job-seeking graduates.

2  Yasushi Tanaka The original concept of CWIE was developed at the beginning of 20th century in the United States. It was known as a “cooperative system of education” or “cooperative education” when Herman Schneider launched the first programme in 1906 at the University of Cincinnati (Sovilla & Varty, 2011). He started the programme for engineering students and two groups of students alternated between the university and workplace, where they were remunerated for their work at the workplace (see Tanaka, 2015, and explanations by Schneider about the programme to the US Congress are found in Committee on Education, 1914). Today, the terms used to describe the concept of work-and-study programmes vary among countries and even among educational institutions. In this book, CWIE is used as an umbrella term for the concept as defined by WACE: a term created by WACE to acknowledge and embrace all forms of experiential learning utilized by industry and educational institutions to prepare the next generation of global professionals. CWIE is an encompassing term that includes: cooperative education, internships, semester in industry, international co-op exchanges, study abroad, research, clinical rotations, service learning and community service. (www.waceinc.org/about.html) The main terms used in each chapter are: Chapter 2: China Cooperative Education Chapter 3: Japan CWIE/Career Education/Internship Chapter 4: Korea Industry Professional Practice (IPP) Chapter 5: Hong Kong Work-Integrated Education (WIE) Chapter 6: Vietnam CWIE Chapter 7: Thailand CWIE Chapter 8: Malaysia Cooperative Education/Practicum Chapter 9: Singapore Internship/industry attachment Each chapter is written largely by the CWIE experts of that particular country or region, most of whom are regular participants of WACE and/or represent CWIE centres of their own educational institutions. It also follows a standardised section format so that cross-comparison is made easier among the chapters. Firstly, a history of the education system appears as background information for understanding CWIE. This is followed by a section on vocational education, in order to clarify the “raison d’etre” of CWIE. This is because there was always vocational education for secondary schools previous to an introduction of CWIE for higher educational institutions as a work-and-study programme in most cases. Then, the authors describe the present situation of CWIE with data and statistics. In the next section, a CWIE programme the authors are familiar with is presented as a case study. Each chapter concludes with future issues that need to be tackled for the further development of CWIE in the country or region.

Introduction 3 After the introductory chapter, Chapter 2 on CWIE in China follows. The author describes how the present education system developed since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and focuses on the development of CWIE since 1985 in particular. CWIE at Shanghai University of Engineering Science (SUES) is presented as a case study, where the programme was developed in a close collaboration with the University of Waterloo, Canada, but was adapted to China’s socio-cultural background under the support and guidance of the Ministry of Education. China is the world’s most populated country with a huge area and thus bold generalisation ought to be avoided. However, it does shed light on the country’s socio-cultural background and needs for the development of CWIE. As future issues, the author points out a reduction of regional discrepancies in the development of CWIE, a provision of more support for CWIE companies, and exploring more opportunities for global CWIE. Chapter 3 is based on Japan. The author goes back as far as the 1868 Meiji Restoration to trace the history of Japan’s education system and vocational education system. The education system faced a drastic change after World War II in 1945, which transferred Japan from an old traditional society to a modern democratic society and higher education played a crucial role in creating high quality masses rather than a small group of elites. The author points out that the concept of CWIE is not compatible with the lifetime employment and seniority system of employment, which brought such economic success during the 1970s and 1980s to Japan. This is causing Japan to fall behind in the development of CWIE. As a case study, a uniquely long-term and remunerated CWIE programme at Kyoto Sangyo University is presented as a new and ambitious project to spread CWIE in the country. The chapter concludes with suggestions that the government and higher education institutions need to introduce more CWIE-friendly regulations and rules to promote it. Chapter 4 is based on Korea. The authors introduce the history of the Korean education system of the last 40 years that experienced rapid economic growth and point out that the government’s education policy contributed in bringing about economic growth and equality. Previously to this period, vocational education was launched in 1963 for secondary education but eventually lost its popularity due to a growing demand for higher education. The effective introduction of CWIE was as recent as after the turn of the century. But government support is helping to catch up with other advanced countries. KOEATECH is the subject of the case study, who developed Industry Professional Practice (IPP) by learning from the North American higher education institutions such as Drexel University, Northeastern University, and the University of Waterloo, and adapted their CWIE programmes to meet Korean needs. They conclude by calling for more active participation by corporations, equipping universities with better CWIE programmes, and making the students more aware of the importance of CWIE for their own future. Chapter 5 is focused on Hong Kong. The authors introduce Hong Kong’s history of education system since the mid-19th century when Hong Kong became a British colony. After 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to China, it remains

4  Yasushi Tanaka as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) and enjoys autonomy to a great extent. Higher education is no exception and with strength in English teaching, the universities in Hong Kong succeed in remaining as highly ranked universities in the world. Hong Kong, with population of 7 million alongside Singapore, is demographically much smaller than other Asian counterparts in the book and this makes it easier to exercise government control in educational policies. There are eight universities and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in the case study is one of the eight. As it has its origin as a post-secondary technical institution, it puts importance on CWIE and offers mandatory programmes. With rising demand for higher education, there is a shortage of university places, making universities the elite-producing institutions and creating “brain drain” to other English-speaking countries. There is an urgent need to restructure higher education institutions to produce high quality masses to respond to the rapidly changing world of technology. It concludes by calling for the government’s support on gathering of data on CWIE as well as monitoring the coexistence of CWIE and vocational education. Chapter 6 is focused on Vietnam. The authors explain that Vietnam’s education system has been influenced over centuries by China, France, and Russia (in the North) and the US (in the South). Today, CWIE for higher education is managed nationally by the Ministry of Education while Vocational Education and Training (VET) for secondary education is managed provincially. The authors believe that the quality of CWIE needs to improve despite rising participation from both students and companies. The case study is about nursing education in Vietnam and how CWIE is utilised to improve teaching quality. They conclude that there are needs to identify and improve the skill levels and shortages, to improve the quality of teaching by shifting from an old style “one-way” method to a more interactive style, and to provide more equal educational opportunities to all income levels and ethnic groups. Chapter 7 is on Thailand. The authors focus on the last three decades to describe the development of CWIE in Thailand, which saw the active involvement of Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) as well as active support of the Thai Government. SUT was established in 1990 and launched the first CWIE programme in the country in 1993. It has been a benchmark higher education institution for Thailand’s CWIE development and its extensive description of the programme as a case study offers useful insights to those interested in developing a CWIE programme. The government’s role is an important element for Thailand’s CWIE; Thailand has a “Cooperative Education Day” in June as an annual national event and the eighth Thai Cooperative Education Day was held in 2017 jointly with the 20th WACE World Conference in Chiang Mai. The authors conclude by stressing the need to promote CWIE to other ASEAN members. Chapter 8 is focused on Malaysia. Malaysia experienced the British colonial period between 1824 and 1957. As a result, its modern education system somewhat resembles the British counterpart. However, with the rapidly growing economy of recent decades it launched a national development scheme known as “Vision 2020” in 1991 and strategies for CWIE is one of the core issues of

Introduction 5 the scheme, in order to support and further advance the nation’s socioeconomic development. More recently, the government is making a great effort to generate highly skilled graduates to compete in the global economy, by focusing on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Their case study illustrates the CWIE practice at University Utara Malaysia (UUM), which is one of the leading universities of CWIE in Malaysia and offers a mandatory practicum training or working experience programme. UUM also acts as a leader in university-industry collaboration in the fields of business, hospitality, and financial services in the Industry Centre of Excellence (ICoE). The authors point out that as CWIE spreads in Malaysia, the system needs to maintain the qualities of organisations and companies and of students as well as to reduce mismatches among the organisations and companies and students. Chapter 9 is focused on Singapore. The author describes Singapore’s education system and policies since 1965’s independence from Malaysia in three phases: (1) a phase of building literacy, (2) a phase of raising the level to the global standard, and (3) a phase of developing creative and innovative minds. Similar to Hong Kong and Malaysia, Singapore too has a resemblance in the basic structure of its education system to the British system due to the colonial past of the Malay peninsula. Being a small nation with a population of over five million, its government is able to play an important role in educational policies. There are five universities and five polytechnics that work closely with Ministry of Education, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Ministry of Manpower. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is presented as a case study. NTU introduced CWIE or an industry attachment programme in 1984 as the first higher education institution in Singapore and as of 2014, 80% of its students have at least one internship experience, though it is not mandatory. The author points out that the government and higher education institutions are keen to support CWIE as a way of improving student employability but cautions that CWIE should not only focus on a short-run target of obtaining full-time employment but also a longrun target of enriching working life. Among the eight Asian countries and region, some interesting features appear. Firstly, it is noticeable that most of universities in the case studies are universities of technology. It is not surprising that, as with the experience of Schneider’s University of Cincinnati, CWIE fits better with science and technology. Developing CWIE for non-science courses requires more effort. However, as CWIE is becoming an important element in higher education in general, there is a need to develop non-science CWIE further. Secondly, the government’s support cannot be overstated. There is no doubt that all governments are keen on supporting CWIE but they vary in degree. More active governments provide generous financial support and this seems to directly affect the development of CWIE. Thirdly, there are different types of the CWIE model. They can be categorised into three groups. The first is the “British group” with Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, because of their colonial past’s impact on the educational system. Although they have developed their own systems, their educational structures are all based on the British system – particularly with established vocational education

6  Yasushi Tanaka for secondary education. The second group is the “North American group,” consisting of China, Korea, and Thailand, who based their models on the North American experience. Their development of CWIE is much more recent and much emphasis has been on higher education. The last group consists of Japan and Vietnam, who seem to be still at the early stage of the CWIE development. Fourthly, there is the language issue. The official language in the British group is English and this has several advantages. It is much easier to learn from the British or North American models of CWIE, since their CWIE practitioners can work in English. It also is easier to send students abroad, since they can receive work experience at English-speaking workplaces, and workplaces in English instruction are easily available for students coming from abroad. Countries where English is the second language have to clear this obstacle before developing global CWIE even within the Asian area. Finally, the conclusion appears in Chapter 10. There is an emphasis on the importance of the development of CWIE in the eight countries and region for the global economy considering their demographic and economic weights. By examining the similarities and differences that these countries and region are facing and underdevelopment in the area, the author proposes the future directions they ought to take as stronger government support, CWIE development to reflect the local socio-cultural background, establishment of a national association, and encouraging research collaboration among them. It is the wish of all the contributors of this book that our work helps to encourage collaboration among CWIE practitioners to develop the practice in Asia.

References Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty- third congress, United States of America. (1914). Cooperative system of education – vocational education. In a hearing before the Committee on Education (second session) of Herman Schneider, on 26th of January 1914, Washington, DC, Government Printing Office. Sovilla, E. S., & Varty, J. W. (2011). Cooperative and work-integrated education in the US, past and present: Some lessons learnt. In R. K. Coll & K. E. Zegwaard (Eds.), International handbook for cooperative and work-integrated education: International perspectives of theory, research and practice (2nd ed., pp. 3–15). Lowell, MA: Work Association for Cooperative Education. Tanaka, Y. (2015). The economics of cooperative education: A practitioner’s guide to the theoretical framework and empirical assessment of cooperative education. Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy. London and New York: Routledge. World Bank. (2016). Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/worlddevelopment-indicators

2 Cooperative education practice in China Tenggang Xu

1 Introduction Cooperative education (Co-op), a type of work-integrated learning (WIL) approach, refers to the education pattern which “provides off-campus work experiences that engage students in solving authentic engineering problems that elucidate textbook problems seen in the classroom” (Yin, 2010, p. 15). This provides practical work experience for students where students develop creative thinking and provides graduates the required skills for employers. China is the biggest country in Asia both in territory and population. Higher education in China has been continuously growing, changing, and developing, especially in the last 35 years. Based on the China higher education quality report in 2015 (www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s5147/201604/t20160408_237162.html), there are approximately 2,852 universities and colleges, with a total of more than 37 million students. China has managed to establish a complete fundamental education system and higher education system. China has set up a degree with Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral degrees which are open to foreign students, as well as many non-degree programs. Higher education in China has played a significant part in the economic growth, scientific progress, and social development in the country. Higher education is continuously nurturing a large number of advanced talents and experts for the development and construction of the country. With the open policy in the early 1980s, China has become more open to the outside and has more exchanges with other countries. In 1985, the Shanghai University of Engineering Science, in collaboration with the University of Waterloo in Canada, established the first pilot programme of Co-op education. This pilot programme marked the beginning of Co-op education in China (Wu, 2010). With over 30 years of development, those who work for China’s higher education institutes created a cooperative education pattern with Chinese characteristics based on the international advances in Co-op and adapting to China’s needs.

8  Tenggang Xu

2 The history of the development of cooperative education in China 2.1  The education system in China Established in 1949, the People’s Republic of China opened a new era in the nation’s development. New China provided sufficient developmental opportunities and conditions for people to create a broad space for the realisation of the socioeconomic development that the country most needed. After nearly 70 years of development, the national strength of China has been greatly enhanced economically and politically. People’s lives have made a historic leap from poverty to overall well-off. The investment and the level of prosperity have been effectively protected in the economic, political, cultural, social, environmental, and other various aspects. Education in China is a state-run public system controlled by the Ministry of Education. China’s basic education consists of pre-school kindergarten, elementary school, junior and senior high school, and university (see Figure 2.1), in addition to special education for disabled children and education for illiterate people. All citizens must attend school for at least nine years; known as the “nine-year compulsory education,” it is fully government funded. It includes six years of primary education, starting at age six or seven, followed by three years of junior secondary education (middle school) for ages 12–15. Some provinces may have five years of primary school but four years for middle school. After middle school, there are three years of high school, which then completes the secondary education. Senior secondary education often refers to three years of high school (or called senior middle school) education, from grade 10 to grade 12. Normally, students who have finished six years of primary education will continue for three more years of academic study in middle schools as regulated by the Compulsory Education Law at the age of twelve. This, however, is not compulsory for senior secondary education, where junior graduates may choose to continue a threeyear academic education in academic high schools, which will eventually lead to university, or to switch to a vocational course in vocational high schools. Senior middle school is for students who are preparing for their college studies. Secondary professional school is for students who are preparing for work in factories or companies. In these kind of schools, students will learn professional skills and related knowledge, academic studies are not necessary for students. Vocational high school is for the students who would like to have potential choices between further education or working in factories. Since some of these students will continue to study at colleges, the curriculum at these schools is based on senior middle school and includes some professional training in it. This allows these students the flexibity to choose between further education or moving directly to work. After senior middle school, students can further their studies at colleges or universities. Some may choose to study for four to five years as undergradaute

Cooperative education practice in China 9

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