Collaborative opportunities on vocational education between Finland and China : a study between Finnish UAS and Chinese vocational education institute
Dong, Yan; Yu, Xueting (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052112434
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023052112434
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study was to explore feasible collaborative models for cross-national vocational education collaboration between Finnish University of Applied Sciences (UAS) and Chinese vocational education (VE) institutes, which was commissioned by Finnish University of Applied Sciences China-Network. The study also investigated the enablers and challenges involved, the mutual benefits that both parties can achieve from collaborating and the impact of Covid-19 pan-demic and geopolitics. This research used a qualitative research approach to comprehend and investigate the phenomena in inquiry, comprising 12 semi-structured interviews.
The results indicated that the cooperation models are diverse, covering various forms of student mobility, institutional partnerships and curricula cooperation, but seldom in the policy or system related field of vocational education. Top-up pro-grams were the most mentioned form of collaboration, but there are challenges, such as meeting the admission requirements and deficient foreign teacher re-sources. The study also discussed enablers and challenges in the cooperation, including political relationships, Chinese reform policy, superior Finnish education system, communication, and the unequal distribution of resources and cumber-some procedures in China. Challenges also included differences in curricula and education systems, poor teaching skills of Chinese vocational education teachers, and cultural differences.
This study fills a gap in the literature by focusing on cross-national vocational education collaboration between Finland and China and will enrich internationalization studies in vocational education, particularly in the field of cross-national vocational education cooperation. The theoretical framework and empirical findings are brought together at the end, with an evaluation of the research's validity and reliability. The thesis concludes with limitations and recommendations for further research.
The results indicated that the cooperation models are diverse, covering various forms of student mobility, institutional partnerships and curricula cooperation, but seldom in the policy or system related field of vocational education. Top-up pro-grams were the most mentioned form of collaboration, but there are challenges, such as meeting the admission requirements and deficient foreign teacher re-sources. The study also discussed enablers and challenges in the cooperation, including political relationships, Chinese reform policy, superior Finnish education system, communication, and the unequal distribution of resources and cumber-some procedures in China. Challenges also included differences in curricula and education systems, poor teaching skills of Chinese vocational education teachers, and cultural differences.
This study fills a gap in the literature by focusing on cross-national vocational education collaboration between Finland and China and will enrich internationalization studies in vocational education, particularly in the field of cross-national vocational education cooperation. The theoretical framework and empirical findings are brought together at the end, with an evaluation of the research's validity and reliability. The thesis concludes with limitations and recommendations for further research.