In the context of national industrial upgrading and the construction of a skilled society, vocational undergraduate education serves as a core hub in the modern vocational education system. As an educator and researcher in this field, I have observed that clarifying its scientific positioning, promoting high-quality development, and establishing seamless pathways from secondary to higher vocational education and undergraduate levels (often referred to as secondary-higher-undergraduate integration) are critical tasks for deepening vocational education reform and enhancing the level and quality of technical and skilled talent cultivation. This article delves into the essential attributes and developmental positioning of vocational undergraduate education, systematically examines the practical challenges in integration pathways, and proposes implementation strategies that strengthen the distinctive characteristics of vocational undergraduate education through typological education positioning, break down integration barriers with systematic design, and optimize the educational ecosystem through multi-stakeholder collaboration. Drawing on practical cases in the field of “intelligent connected new energy electric car technology for cold regions” under the national “New Double High” policy framework, we innovatively construct a competency-based hierarchical curriculum articulation system and a “school-enterprise-research” integrated platform, providing theoretical support and practical references for building a vertically integrated and horizontally connected modern vocational education system.
The rapid development of the electric car industry has led to an explosive growth in demand for interdisciplinary, high-quality technical and skilled talent. According to guidelines such as the “Manufacturing Talent Development Plan” jointly released by relevant ministries, it is projected that by the end of 2025, the talent demand in the energy-saving and new energy electric car sector will reach 1.2 million people, with a shortage of approximately 1.03 million, highlighting a severe talent gap. The “National Vocational Education Reform Implementation Plan” (often called “Vocational Education 20 Articles”) explicitly proposes “piloting undergraduate-level vocational education,” establishing vocational undergraduate education as a strategic pivot for perfecting the modern vocational education system. The newly revised “Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China” in 2022 legally affirms vocational education’s status as a “type education” and emphasizes “promoting effective articulation between different levels of vocational education.”
Intelligent connected new energy electric cars, as a core direction for the transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry, face urgent needs for technological application innovation in extreme cold region environments. The “New Double High” policy encourages higher vocational institutions to build specialized clusters around key industrial demands like this, providing strong support for talent cultivation and technological research and development in the field of intelligent connected new energy electric car technology for cold regions.
However, the current construction of vocational undergraduate education still faces three major challenges: (1) Positioning ambiguity: The differentiation from ordinary undergraduate and higher vocational college education remains unclear. (2) Integration barriers: There is a lack of mechanisms for curriculum articulation and credit recognition between secondary vocational, higher vocational, and undergraduate levels. (3) Disconnection between industry and education: Enterprises often lack depth and sustainability in their participation in talent cultivation.
This article uses intelligent connected new energy electric car technology for cold regions as an empirical case to explore systematic solutions for optimizing vocational undergraduate positioning and achieving integration pathways, offering a paradigm reference for the construction of a modern vocational education system.
Essential Attributes and Developmental Positioning of Vocational Undergraduate Education
As a type of education, vocational undergraduate education focuses on technological application innovation, cultivating “field engineers” who can solve complex industrial problems and drive technological advancements. In response to the needs of regional industries, such as tackling cold region technology challenges and promoting zero-integration upgrades in the electric car sector, we aim to build a “three-stage integration, three-chain fusion, three-platform support” system for cultivating top-notch innovative talent in vocational undergraduate education. The specific objectives are as follows.
Competency progression objective: Establish a three-stage model of “cold region technology competency progression” covering higher vocational education (building foundational abilities), vocational undergraduate education (strengthening professional abilities), and vocational master’s education (expanding innovative abilities), achieving an improvement rate of ≥40% in talent’s ability to solve complex engineering problems. This can be represented by a competency growth function: $$ C(t) = C_0 + \int_{0}^{t} \alpha \cdot I(\tau) \, d\tau $$ where \( C(t) \) is the competency level at time \( t \), \( C_0 \) is the initial competency, \( \alpha \) is the learning efficiency coefficient, and \( I(\tau) \) represents the intensity of integrated training interventions.
Industry-education synergy objective: Create a closed-loop mechanism integrating the education chain (curriculum articulation), technology chain (cold region research), and industry chain (zero-integration collaboration), promoting the opening of core enterprise technology R&D projects to institutions and feeding back patent conversion benefits into the cultivation mechanism. A synergy metric can be defined as: $$ S = \frac{E \cdot T \cdot I}{\max(E, T, I)} $$ where \( E \) is education chain effectiveness, \( T \) is technology chain output, and \( I \) is industry chain integration.
Platform empowerment objective: Establish three substantively operated support platforms—a cold region technology sharing platform, a school-enterprise cooperation practice platform, and an innovation and entrepreneurship incubation platform—to enhance the local supporting rate for new energy electric cars in the region and transform cold region technology from an “industrial pain point” into a “regional competitiveness.” The platform utility can be modeled as: $$ U_p = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \cdot P_i $$ where \( U_p \) is the total utility, \( w_i \) are weights, and \( P_i \) are performance indicators of each platform.
In the modern vocational education system, vocational undergraduate education plays a dual role. Vertically, it serves as the apex of the technical and skilled talent pyramid, providing clear career development and academic advancement pathways for technical workers and technicians. In the field of intelligent connected new energy electric car technology for cold regions, this forms a competency progression system from secondary vocational to higher vocational to vocational undergraduate levels. Horizontally, it intersects with applied undergraduate education in “applicability” but emphasizes greater “depth” in technical skills and “systematicness” in work processes. For instance, vocational undergraduate education in cold region intelligent connected new energy electric cars focuses on engineering verification and technological optimization in low-temperature environments, while applied undergraduate programs in vehicle engineering emphasize vehicle design theory, creating a complementary positioning.
The social value of vocational undergraduate education is particularly evident in regional industrial clusters like the electric car industry. It enhances technological adaptability by addressing issues such as battery range degradation and intelligent sensor failures in electric cars under extreme cold conditions below -30°C, through school-enterprise collaborative innovation centers that conduct technology research, such as developing new battery heating technologies and optimizing low-temperature performance of intelligent sensors, directly serving markets in cold regions. It optimizes talent supply by cultivating field engineers with cold region testing expertise through specialized talent cultivation projects, achieving high graduate employment rates in relevant electric car enterprises.
Core Challenges in Secondary-Higher-Undergraduate Integration: A Case of Intelligent Connected New Energy Electric Car Technology for Cold Regions
In the field of intelligent connected new energy electric car technology for cold regions, curriculum articulation discontinuities are a typical manifestation of knowledge chain breaks. At the secondary vocational level, courses focus on traditional auto repair and electric car basics (e.g., high-voltage safety operations), with limited depth in intelligent connected curricula and minimal content on cold region technology applications. At the higher vocational level, courses on intelligent connected electric car detection are added, but they lack cold region environmental adaptation content; for example, virtual ice and snow simulations remain at a cognitive level without deep application or optimization. At the undergraduate level, students engage directly in cold region intelligent connected electric car technology R&D, but due to missing prerequisite knowledge in areas like low-temperature electrochemistry and cold region sensor principles, they struggle with understanding complex control algorithms and system optimization principles. The root cause lies in the absence of systematic design based on occupational competency maps, with each educational stage having disjointed curriculum standards, leading to redundant teaching and critical competency gaps.
Rigid progression mechanisms further hinder integration. Progression exams (e.g., from secondary to higher vocational to undergraduate) overly rely on “cultural literacy + vocational skills” tests, but the vocational skills assessment content has low relevance to cold region technology. Credit recognition barriers exist, as enterprise practical achievements are difficult to convert into credits; for instance, students’ training experiences at electric car enterprise cold region testing bases lack authoritative certification standards and cannot be counted toward undergraduate credits.
Insufficient stakeholder collaboration is another issue. Loose coordination among secondary vocational schools, higher vocational colleges, and undergraduate institutions results in a lack of long-term collaboration mechanisms; some “3+4” integration projects are sustained only by agreements, with independent teaching teams failing to align cultivation objectives. Superficial enterprise participation is common; although electric car enterprises engage in talent cultivation, their involvement is often limited to providing internship positions, with participation in curriculum development and competency standard setting below 20%.
Misaligned evaluation systems exacerbate these problems. At secondary and higher vocational levels, evaluation overemphasizes initial employment rates, neglecting the quality of articulation for further education. At the undergraduate level, evaluation tends to align with ordinary universities, with assessment indicators for vocational undergraduate institutions still focusing on paper publications, while the weight given to contributions to solving practical industrial problems (e.g., patent conversions in cold region technology) is less than 15%.
Positioning and Integration Pathways for Vocational Undergraduate Education in Intelligent Connected New Energy Electric Car Technology for Cold Regions
To strengthen the typological education positioning, we should collaborate with enterprises to enhance professional standard coordination mechanisms, map occupational competency maps for professional clusters based on job families, and lead the formulation of vocational education and industry technical standards. Innovating apprenticeship training models and creating paradigms for cultivating smart connected craftsmen can help build a multi-evaluation system, implement national field engineer cultivation projects, and nurture high-skilled talent. Cooperation with universities to develop modular courses for electric car-related majors, implement credit recognition between vocational undergraduate and ordinary undergraduate courses, and explore “higher vocational-undergraduate-master’s” articulation pathways are essential. Conducting vocational enlightenment education and jointly building integrated curriculum systems between secondary and higher vocational institutions can further support this. Establishing professional cluster committees to dynamically adjust talent cultivation plans and constructing a “one cluster, multiple colleges collaborative education” mechanism will cultivate high-quality talent that meets industrial demands.
Upgrading on-campus training bases for electric car technologies such as “three electric” systems (battery, motor, electronic control), intelligent connected electric car technology, and vehicle performance testing is crucial for delivering training with real tasks, projects, processes, and scenarios. Building off-campus practice bases for positions in new energy intelligent connected electric car assembly, component systems, and after-sales maintenance can create authentic, open, and shared practice centers. Developing national-level “smart connected” virtual simulation bases, including virtual simulation training centers for intelligent connected electric cars, public course virtual simulation centers, virtual simulation experience centers, and virtual simulation research and innovation centers, is also vital. The following table summarizes the construction pathways for professional clusters in vocational undergraduate education for intelligent connected new energy electric car technology in cold regions.
| Professional Direction | Core Competency Objectives | Industry Alignment | Practice Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold Region Intelligent Connected New Energy Electric Car Technology | Battery thermal management in cold regions, calibration of intelligent perception systems in low-temperature environments, optimization of autonomous driving algorithms for cold regions | Electric car leading enterprises establishing cold region R&D centers, intelligent connected technology companies | Cold region intelligent connected new energy electric car engineering laboratory, intelligent connected simulation center |
| Cold Region New Energy Electric Car Materials and Equipment Engineering | Fatigue testing of low-temperature metal materials, optimization of composite material anti-freeze cracking performance, R&D of specialized equipment for cold regions | Electric car material suppliers, new energy electric car equipment manufacturers | Material low-temperature performance testing center, new energy electric car equipment innovation workshop |
| Cold Region Intelligent Connected New Energy Electric Car Service Engineering | Intelligent diagnosis of entire electric cars in extreme cold, development of remote fault warning systems, optimization of after-sales service technology for cold regions | Electric car after-sales service systems, intelligent connected electric car service platforms | All-season intelligent connected training ground, smart diagnosis data center |
Building a competency-progressive integrated cultivation system involves several steps. First, develop hierarchical competency standards for “secondary-higher-undergraduate” levels based on occupational competency maps. The following table outlines this hierarchical system for intelligent connected new energy electric car technology in cold regions, extending to the vocational postgraduate level for comprehensive articulation.
| Competency Level | Secondary Vocational Stage | Higher Vocational Stage | Vocational Undergraduate Stage | Vocational Postgraduate Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge Objectives | Basic structure of traditional and electric cars, preliminary cognition of intelligent connected systems | Control logic of hybrid and pure electric systems, fundamental principles of intelligent connected systems | Properties of materials for electric cars in cold regions, low-temperature intelligent control algorithms, cold region environmental testing techniques | Cutting-edge theories in cold region intelligent connected new energy electric car technology, interdisciplinary comprehensive knowledge |
| Skill Objectives | High-voltage safety operations for electric cars (special electrician certification), basic maintenance skills | Fault diagnosis of battery management systems, debugging of intelligent connected onboard devices | Performance testing and optimization of entire electric cars in cold regions, troubleshooting of intelligent systems in cold environments | R&D of complex cold region intelligent connected electric car technologies, leading projects on new battery systems for cold regions |
| Practice Carriers | Training at electric car body repair bases, simulated intelligent connected scenarios on campus | “1+X” comprehensive skill training bases, short-term enterprise internships | Research projects in cold region intelligent connected electric car engineering labs, internships at enterprise cold region testing bases | Enterprise frontier R&D projects, industry-academia-research joint攻关 topics |
Second, innovate integration models and progression mechanisms. Implement long-term programs such as “3+4” secondary-undergraduate articulation (3 years secondary + 4 years undergraduate) or “5+2” higher vocational-undergraduate articulation (5 years higher vocational + 2 years undergraduate), with segmented integrated plans. Additionally, explore “undergraduate-master’s articulation” models; for outstanding vocational undergraduate students interested in deeper research, selection into vocational postgraduate programs can be facilitated through integrated cultivation plans like “4+2” (4 years undergraduate + 2 years postgraduate), enabling advanced knowledge and skill progression in cold region intelligent connected new energy electric car technology. For example, the secondary stage (3 years) includes traditional auto repair, electric car high-voltage safety, and intelligent connected basics; the higher vocational stage (2 years) covers electric car detection and maintenance (with VR ice-snow scenario simulations); the undergraduate stage (2 years) involves real-vehicle testing in cold regions and participation in R&D projects; and the postgraduate stage (2 years) focuses on frontier topics like battery material innovation for electric cars in cold regions and joint research on complex applications in cold environments.
A competency progression model can be mathematically represented as: $$ L_{n} = L_{n-1} + \Delta L \cdot f(I, R) $$ where \( L_{n} \) is the competency level at stage \( n \), \( \Delta L \) is the incremental gain, and \( f(I, R) \) is a function of integration intensity \( I \) and resource input \( R \).
To ensure quality,健全 a robust quality assurance system. Innovate evaluation mechanisms by adopting a三方 weighting: industry enterprise evaluation (40%) + third-party certification (30%) + institutional assessment (30%), with a focus on the ability to solve cold region technology challenges. Implement process-based淘汰, with淘汰 rates controlled within 5% as参考, reinforced by phased assessments. Use data-driven improvements by tracking graduate employment data to dynamically adjust course content and establishing a competency achievement early warning system to initiate teaching diagnostics for underperforming courses.
Conclusion and Outlook
The scientific positioning of vocational undergraduate education and the integration of secondary-higher-undergraduate pathways are central to the construction of a modern vocational education system. Based on the context of electric car technology in cold regions, this article proposes three innovative pathways. Characteristic positioning drives adaptability: by anchoring in industrial pain points, we can build a distinctive system of “professional clusters—course modules—practice platforms” to create a technological engine addressing specific needs. Competency maps guide integration: establishing “secondary-higher-undergraduate-postgraduate”四级 competency standards and a credit bank system can resolve curriculum discontinuities and support gradual talent growth. Consortiums empower industry-education integration: relying on “school-enterprise-research” platforms to feed technology back into teaching forms a closed-loop ecosystem of education chain—talent chain—industry chain.
Future efforts should deepen exploration in the following areas. Vocational-general integration: Pilot credit recognition in specialized fields like electric car technology to break down typological barriers. Technology forward-shifting: Support vocational undergraduate institutions in leading provincial and ministerial technology research projects. Lifelong learning: Utilize credit banks to provide retraining for industrial workers in the electric car sector. As vocational undergraduate development and integration mechanisms mature, they will reshape the vocational education ecology, cultivating outstanding talent with both craftsmanship spirit and innovative capabilities for a manufacturing powerhouse, particularly in advancing electric car technologies for challenging environments.