Abstract The Tianjin Consensus embodies the main theme of industry-education integration and charts the course for the development of vocational education. The intrinsic logic and practical pathways for vocational education and industry-education integration to serve as a “growth pole” for global economic and social development urgently require elucidation. The “Shared Philosophy” of the Tianjin Consensus consolidates the development goals of industry-education integration, while the “Shared Vision” establishes a common value consensus. The “growth pole” theory reveals the mechanism by which vocational education and industry-education integration act as a driving force for economic and social development. The Tianjin Consensus points out the course of action for industry-education integration: its “Shared Proposals” contain the framework for building a support system, and its “Shared Actions” specify the implementation pathways for industry-education integration. Practice has shown that industry-education integration requires institutional innovation to clarify the rights and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders, a dynamic coordination mechanism to achieve precise alignment between education and industry chains, and standard interoperability to facilitate skill mobility. To implement the Tianjin Consensus, institutional innovation should be used to ensure investment, stakeholder collaboration should be leveraged to activate the ecosystem, and standard interoperability should be promoted to expand the scope of influence. Under the guidance of the Tianjin Consensus, through the coordinated actions of diverse stakeholders, industry-education integration in vocational education is expected to become a significant driving force for empowering sustainable global economic and social development.
He et al. (2026) studied this question.