Collaborative governance in practice: elite capture, asymmetric participation, and the illusion of consensus in Indonesian vocational education

This study examines collaborative governance in the development of vocational higher education through the construction of Campus II Polman Bandung in Majalengka Regency, Indonesia. It analyzes how actor relations, power asymmetries, divergent interests, and consensus formation shape collaboration and policy outcomes. Using a qualitative case study design, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 26 purposively selected informants, participatory observation, and analysis of policy and project documents. The findings show that collaboration successfully established cross-sector coordination among government, educational institutions, industry and local actors, but participation and influence remained uneven. Government actors held greater authority over strategic decisions, while educational institutions occupied a relatively subordinate position and industry participation remained largely pragmatic and focused on immediate workforce needs. The study also identifies latent interests, elite capture, actor bias and tokenistic participation that constrained substantive deliberation. Consequently, several agreements operated as pseudo-consensus, providing procedural legitimacy while leaving underlying differences and potential conflicts unresolved. The study argues that collaborative governance in vocational higher education should be understood as a political and institutional process rather than merely a technical coordination mechanism. More equitable collaboration requires stronger institutional capacity, balanced participation, transparent interest negotiation, sustained technical-level communication and long-term partnerships between education and industry.