In the Government Work Report he delivered to the top legislature on Tuesday, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to accelerate the development of modern vocational education to ease the pressure in the job market and meet the demand for skilled workers and technicians, encouraging more high school graduates, retired soldiers, laid-off workers and migrant workers to apply to study in higher vocational colleges. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

It is noteworthy that Li said that enrollment in higher vocational colleges in China should increase by 1 million this year, the first time the central authority has set a clear target.

Apparently, in the central government's plan, vocational schools will assume a more important role than before in accommodating surplus laborers and improving the overall quality of the country's labor force.

There are 11,700 vocational schools in China, which enroll about 9 million people a year. Among which 1,400 are higher vocational colleges that enroll about 3.6 million people a year.

To expand the enrollment by 1 million, the higher vocational colleges must reform their admission policies to make it easier for the aforementioned groups of people, as well as middle vocational school graduates to be admitted, while maintaining high standards and strict requirements in education and training.

For instance, the enrollment examination can be exempted for migrant workers, ex-servicemen and laid-off workers, who have high school diplomas, and they should be able to apply to study in the higher vocational colleges irrespective of where their hukou, or household registration, is registered.

This would open the college gates to millions of people, starting a chain reaction in relevant fields. International experience shows the popularization of higher vocational education is a move that many developed countries have taken to satisfy the needs of employers.

Yet a practical concern is whether the quality of the colleges' education and training can be guaranteed with the expected influx of large numbers of new students coming from different backgrounds if they do not need to pass any enrollment exams.

Given the large pool of potential applicants and the limited places in colleges, it is advisable that the schools ensure their admission criteria only allow those applicants who are qualified to be admitted. Otherwise, the sudden expansion of enrollment, by about 25 percent, will pull down these colleges' education quality.