Vocational education facilitating the high-quality development of Chinese SMEs: theoretical mechanisms, real constraints and proposed strategies

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China highlighted that “high-quality development is the primary task in building a modern socialist country comprehensively.” The development quality of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) plays a pivotal role in achieving the modernization of socialism in China. Against the backdrop of the state’s strong support for vocational education, the mechanism and pathway through which vocational education impacts the high-quality development of SMEs remain unclear and warrant further investigation. This study focuses on the theoretical mechanisms and real constraints of vocational education in aiding the high-quality development of SMEs. It explores the following areas: First, starting from the concept of high-quality development and the needs of SMEs, the study discusses the ideal orientation of talent cultivation in vocational education. Secondly, it delves into the pathway mechanism of how vocational education influences the high-quality development of SMEs and clarifies the crucial aspects of vocational education talent training. Finally, the study confronts the real issues faced in the development of vocational education and seeks possible solutions. The key to vocational education talent cultivation lies in how colleges and businesses achieve deep integration of industry and education and science and education. Strengthening the demand orientation of vocational education and promoting the structural match between vocational education talent cultivation and the talent needs of SMEs in high-quality development is crucial for enhancing the quality of talent cultivation in vocational education.