Analysis and Prospect of Financial Fund Planning for Higher

Vocational Education from the Perspective of Industry Education

Integration: A Case Study of Tianjin

Mengjie Li

and Shenyi Yang

School of Economics, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China

School of Culture and Communication, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China

Keywords: Financial Investment, Public-Private Partnership, Tianjin.

Abstract: As an important way to cultivate highly skilled talents, higher vocational education has received widespread

attention for its financial planning, but there are still shortcomings in existing research and practice. This

article takes Tianjin as an example to analyze the current situation, problems, and impact of financial fund

planning for higher vocational education under the background of industry education integration on the allo-

cation of educational resources and the quality of talent cultivation. Research has found that Tianjin has

achieved significant results in the planning of financial funds for higher vocational education, but there are

still some problems with the specific implementation. Based on this, this article proposes that the government

should increase investment in the construction of a policy system for the integration of industry and education,

develop specific and feasible policy texts, and establish a sound mechanism for evaluating effectiveness.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the gradual shortage of labor and the continuous

increase in wages, the "Lewis turning point" has

emerged in China, where the aging population is

deepening, and the demographic dividend is

gradually disappearing. In the era of rapid upgrading

of industrial structure and rapid technological

innovation, education has also been given higher

requirements (Wang, 2024). Vocational education

should not only adapt to the needs of the social

economy but also play a leading role in technological

innovation and industrial transformation. Through the

cooperation between schools and enterprises, it will

cultivate high-quality, innovative, and effective

technical talents, and promote the transformation

from the quantitative advantage of the labor force to

the advantage of labor quality. Because higher

vocational education is an important way to cultivate

highly skilled talents, strengthening research and

optimization of its financial planning is particularly

crucial. Shen believes that in terms of investment

status, existing literature on relevant topics in China

mainly focuses on the sources of funding for higher

vocational education, as well as regional differences

and improvements in investment systems (Shen,

2020). As Zhou and Yue have said, the history of

vocational education development is a history of

continuous innovation in the concepts and practices

of industry education integration and school-

enterprise cooperation (Zhou & Yue, 2017). These

issues also significantly exist in the financial

investment of industry education integration.

Internationally, the practice of industry-education

integration started early and has developed into

mature models, such as the dual system in Germany

and the cooperative education model in the United

States (Hu, 2024). Compared with the mature

development of the integration of industry and

education in the world, the development of related

fields in China is relatively slow, and there is still

room for improvement. Jia raised the issue of China's

domestic education integration financial mechanism,

firstly, the insufficient matching between vocational

education financial mechanism and enterprise

demand (Jia, 2019). Secondly, the fiscal mechanism

has not been aligned with the interest mechanisms of

all parties involved in the integration of industry and

education. Finally, the incomplete integration system

of industry and education has resulted in the inability

to reflect the role of fiscal funds (Jia, 2019).

Tianjin is the first "National Vocational Education

Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone" in China.

Vocational education started early, but there are still

Li, M. and Yang, S.

Analysis and Prospect of Financial Fund Planning for Higher Vocational Education from the Perspective of Industry Education Integration: A Case Study of Tianjin.

DOI: 10.5220/0013977800004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 239-244

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

239

problems such as an imbalanced funding structure

and inadequate investment mechanism guarantee

(Gao, 2023). In 2019, Tianjin was recognized as a

pilot city for the integration of industry and education,

fully reflecting the high importance that Tianjin

attaches to this aspect. However, the issue of related

special funds not only limits the scale of vocational

education in Tianjin but also hinders the further

deepening of cooperation between industries and

schools. Therefore, based on policy analysis of

national policies, this article combines data and case

analysis of Tianjin and specific schools in Tianjin to

explore a planning model suitable for the special

financial funds for the integration of industry and

education in higher vocational education in Tianjin

based on actual implementation effect research and

provide reference experience for other regions. This

study also helps to explore the positive interaction

mechanism between industry education integration

and fiscal funding planning, providing theoretical

support for promoting the deep integration of

vocational education and industrial development.

Finally, by analyzing the existing problems and

deficiencies in the planning of financial funds related

to the integration of industry and education in Tianjin,

targeted suggestions are provided on how to optimize

fund allocation and improve utilization efficiency.

2 TOP-LEVEL POLICY

ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIAL

FUND FOR INDUSTRY

EDUCATION INTEGRATION

In the process of promoting close integration between

schools and industries, special funding policies at the

national level have played an indispensable and

important role. The implementation of these policies

not only promotes deep collaboration between

schools and industries but also lays a solid foundation

for regional economic development and the

construction of an innovative society, demonstrating

the country's strategic vision and policy wisdom in

promoting the linkage between education and

industry.

2.1 Precise Advertising Strategy

In terms of funding allocation, policy documents at

the national level also demonstrate precision. For

example, relevant policies indicate that central budget

investment will support pilot cities to independently

plan and construct industry education integration

training bases and prioritize the layout and

construction of industry education integration

innovation platforms. At the same time, dynamic

rewards will be given to provinces and pilot cities

with significant construction achievements. This

policy not only ensures that funds can flow to the

most needed and critical areas but also creates a

positive competitive atmosphere through the

establishment of reward mechanisms, promoting

continuous exploration and innovation in the

integration of industry and education in various

regions.

2.2 Priority Support for Key Areas

In terms of guiding the direction of training base

construction, national-level policy documents also

reflect clarity. The relevant policies stipulate that

when arranging specific investment projects, the

construction of training bases in the fields of

advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence,

elderly care, and housekeeping will be put in the first

place. This policy not only clarifies the direction of

fiscal investment but also helps to concentrate

resources to promote the in-depth development of

industry education integration in key areas and

improve the efficiency of fund utilization.

2.3 Diversified Incentive Measures

Regarding enterprise incentive measures, national-

level policy documents are increasingly improving,

gradually achieving diversification and targeted

incentive methods. From proposing the direction of

enterprise incentives for the first time to building a

combined incentive mechanism of

"finance+finance+land+credit", and then refining

specific policies from four aspects, the country has

gradually improved the incentive system for the

projects through three important policy documents.

The final specific policies are shown in Table 1.

These policies are guided by systematization and

precision, taking into account the actual needs of

enterprises and reflecting the strategic layout of

government support for the integration of industry

and education. At the same time, the gradual

promotion and refinement of these policies have

created a favorable environment for deep cooperation

between enterprises and educational institutions.

However, Yang Guangjun's research found that some

problems have gradually emerged in the

implementation process of relevant incentive policies

for enterprises, such as the tax credit incentive policy

emphasizing "hard" over "soft" in recognizing

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

240

enterprise investment, emphasizing enterprise

resource investment over school output effect in

incentive orientation, and the difficulty in forming a

joint force of relevant policies. The incentive effect

on enterprises still needs to be strengthened (Yang,

2022).

Table 1: Final specific policies of "finance+finance+

land+credit".

Policy points Policy initiatives

Financial

Policy

The government has increased its efforts

to recommend vocational education

industry education integration medium -

and long-term loan projects to financial

institutions.

Investment

Policy

The central government will invest in the

construction of qualified training bases.

Eligible projects will be included in the

scope of local government special bond

ort.

Financial

and Tax

Policy

Enterprises that invest according to

regulations can deduct 30% of the

investment amount from the education

surcharge and local education surcharge

that should be paid in the current year.

Land Policy The construction land for enterprises to

invest in or cooperate with the

government in the construction of

Vocational Colleges and universities shall

be managed according to the land for

education. Explore the way of a long-term

lease, a combination of lease and

concession, and flexible term transfer for

land supply.

Credit Policy Strengthen the collection of credit

information of enterprises integrating

production and education, and carry out

industry credit evaluation.

3 LOCAL LEVEL ANALYSIS OF

TIANJIN CITY

3.1 Specific Implementation

3.1.1 Policy Implementation

The "Tianjin Vocational Education Regulations" and

the "Tianjin Vocational Education Industry

Education Integration Promotion Regulations" will

be implemented from 2024 onwards, making Tianjin

a national modern vocational education reform and

innovation demonstration zone and one of the first

batch of national pilot cities for the integration of

industry and education. In the "Tianjin Vocational

Education Promotion of the Integration of Industry

and Education", the use of key special funds of the

relevant financial departments is classified. At the

same time, it is required to diversify fundraising

methods and give priority to supporting special funds

related to government and enterprises. At the level of

supervision and management, the regulations clearly

state that it is necessary to jointly formulate measures

for the management of special funds and strengthen

the supervision of the use of funds. At the same time,

in terms of policy incentives, the Tianjin Municipal

Development and Reform Commission took the lead

in compiling the "Implementation Plan for the

Construction of Tianjin Pilot Cities for the Integration

of Industry and Education", and put forward a policy

combining 22 incentive policies of "finance + tax +

land + talent".

Macro-fiscal policy provides a guiding

framework for local governments, and Tianjin's

regulations are the concrete implementation and

refinement of this. This top-down policy linkage and

complementarity reflects the positive interaction

between the state and the local government and the

joint efforts to achieve the same goal.

3.1.2 Financial Investment

In 2020, the financial budget for higher vocational

education in Tianjin reached 534453725.84 yuan,

laying a solid foundation for the development of

vocational education. In 2021, the expenditure on

vocational education in Tianjin has significantly

increased, especially in higher vocational education.

The preliminary budget is 55706800.00 yuan, and the

actual settlement expenditure is 601426161.00 yuan,

accounting for 107.96% of the preliminary budget.

The main reason for exceeding the budget is that the

government has increased special funds for student

aid and "double high" construction, which reflects the

government's emphasis on improving the quality of

vocational education and student welfare. In 2022,

Tianjin's financial investment in higher vocational

education continued to increase, with a budget of

618.727 million yuan at the beginning of the year and

an expenditure of 708719869.60 yuan at the end of

the year, completing 114.54% of the budget at the

beginning of the year. Similar to 2021, the reason for

the final budget is higher than the budgeted amount is

also due to an increase in student aid and dedicated

funds for "double high". This indicates that in

promoting the high-quality development of higher

vocational education, Tianjin not only pays attention

to the reasonable arrangement of the budget but also

flexibly adjusts according to the actual situation to

ensure sufficient investment of funds. In 2023,

Analysis and Prospect of Financial Fund Planning for Higher Vocational Education from the Perspective of Industry Education Integration:

A Case Study of Tianjin

241

Tianjin's financial investment in higher vocational

education reached a new level. The budget at the

beginning of the year was 93938800.00 yuan, and the

expenditure settlement reached 1042426731.08 yuan,

completing 110.97% of the budget at the beginning of

the year. This growth trend once again confirms

Tianjin's firm support and continuous investment in

the development of higher vocational education, and

further reflects the government's strategic vision and

practical measures for developing vocational

education.

The financial budget for higher vocational

education in Tianjin has been increasing year by year.

Especially since 2021, the growth rate of funds has

significantly accelerated, reflecting Tianjin's

determination and strength to promote high-quality

development of vocational education. At the same

time, the fact that the final accounts are generally

higher than the budget also indicates the flexibility

and practicality of government fund management,

which can increase funds promptly according to

actual needs to ensure the smooth implementation of

various tasks.

3.2 Existing Problems

3.2.1 Inconsistent Proportion of

Government and Social Investment

Although the task of cultivating skilled talents

requires vocational colleges and industry enterprises

to jointly undertake it, it has increasingly become a

consensus among vocational colleges, enterprises,

and various sectors of society (He, 2013). But for

quite some time, the lack of integration between

industry and education, and the insufficient depth and

practicality of school-enterprise cooperation have

been pain points and obstacles., the insufficient depth

and practicality of school-enterprise cooperation have

been pain points and obstacles. There is a current

situation of "hot school and cold enterprise" in the

integration of production and education in vocational

colleges. Some scholars have pointed out that with the

formation of the new normal, the original

development model based on rapid growth in fiscal

investment is difficult to sustain. If it want to continue

the good trend of vocational education development,

it will be an unavoidable issue of the times to shift

from external development relying on incremental

resources to internal development relying on

improving the efficiency of utilizing existing

resources (Duan, 2023).

Z School closely follows policy developments in

the field of industry education integration. Starting in

2022, it has implemented the New Energy Vehicle

and Rail Transit Industry Education Integration

Training Base Project, responding to the national

strategic task of "building 100 high-level, specialized,

and open industry education integration training

bases". The preliminary design estimate for the

project has a total investment of 1600.563 million

yuan, and the actual total expenditure is 172 million

yuan. The funding source is from applying for central

budget funds and local government special bonds,

and the shortfall is self-raised by the school.

There is a deviation in the annual budget

execution of central subsidy funds. Specifically, the

school's budget for central subsidies in 2023 is 80

million yuan, but the actual implementation amount

is only 54.137 million yuan, with an implementation

rate of only 68%. This deviation indicates that the

school has certain deficiencies in the use of funds and

budget execution, and has not fully allocated and used

funds according to the budget plan. Secondly,

according to the performance table, some projects

require final payment after passing the acceptance

inspection, but the school has not completed the

acceptance work of all projects by the end of 2023, so

the full final payment has not been paid. This

situation was resolved in early 2024, and the school

completed the final payment. This also reflects that

there is a certain lag in project management and fund

payment in schools, and it is necessary to further

strengthen the monitoring of project progress and the

timeliness of fund payment. At the same time, the

school has invested a large amount of special bond

funds in infrastructure construction and teaching

equipment procurement. In 2022, the school received

40 million yuan in special bond funds for

infrastructure construction and the purchase of

teaching equipment. In 2023, the school added 20

million yuan of special bond funds for the expansion

of the training base and the promotion of related

projects. This investment indicates the high

importance that the school attaches to infrastructure

construction and the purchase of teaching equipment,

and also reflects the school's determination to

improve teaching quality and practical training

conditions. From another perspective, this also

reflects the need for schools to plan more

scientifically and reasonably in terms of fund

allocation and utilization. The use of central subsidy

funds and special bond funds should be coordinated

and complementary to each other to ensure the

smooth implementation of various school work.

Therefore, schools need to further strengthen the

scientific and effective management of funds,

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

242

optimize the structure of fund allocation, and improve

the efficiency of fund utilization.

In summary, statistics show that, based on the

existing known data, the government's fiscal funds

account for a significant proportion of investment in

this special project. However, the financial support

provided by enterprises to the base is relatively

limited, and the government still needs to stimulate

the investment enthusiasm of enterprises.

3.2.2 Inadequate Fund Performance

Evaluation System

Although the use of government financial funds in

this project at Z school has shown significant results,

there are still issues with transparency and inadequate

supervision mechanisms in fund management.

Firstly, the special funds are not reflected in the

annual departmental final accounts and can only be

queried from the special performance table.

Secondly, the evaluation indicators for benefits in the

self-evaluation performance table are too general and

cannot truly reflect the actual implementation effect.

In the future, efforts should be made to strengthen the

transparency and auditing of fund utilization, while

further optimizing the principles and structure of fund

allocation to ensure the long-term sustainability of

resource utilization.

4 IMPROVEMENT

SUGGESTIONS

4.1 Enhancing Corporate Investment

The PPP model, also known as the "public-private

partnership model," is a model in which the

government collaborates with social capital to

construct, and operate public infrastructure, or

provide public services. Through the PPP model, the

government and social capital clarify the rights and

obligations of both parties in the form of a contract,

jointly invest, construct, operate, and share benefits

and risks (Ling, 2024). To address the issue of

optimizing diversified investment, it can explore the

application of the PPP model in the process of

integrating industry and education in vocational

colleges, that is, introducing social capital into the

field of integrating industry and education in

vocational colleges (Guo, 2012).

Firstly, introducing the PPP model can broaden

the funding channels for vocational colleges,

introduce social capital into the education sector, and

alleviate local financial pressure. And ensure a win-

win situation among enterprises, schools, and

governments through a mechanism of benefit sharing.

Secondly, the PPP model can reduce the cost of

school-enterprise cooperation and form a risk-sharing

mechanism, making enterprises more motivated to

participate in the integration of industry and

education. For example, the government can reduce

the risk perception of enterprises in the initial

investment by introducing government guarantee

mechanisms. On this basis, optimizing the investment

methods of enterprises can lower the threshold for

participation by replacing direct capital investment

with equipment, technology, and other forms.

Schools and enterprises can jointly establish an

"Industry Education Integration Special Fund" to

support long-term cooperation projects. Finally,

when applying the PPP model, the government

should also pay attention to policy support, clarify the

rights and interests of all parties, ensure that

enterprises receive reasonable returns in the

participation process, and thereby enhance their long-

term investment motivation (Duan, 2023).

4.2 Optimize the Management and

Allocation of Funds

For the issue of fund allocation and management, the

country can learn from the results-oriented fiscal

formula allocation method of OECD countries,

allocate funds through signing performance contracts,

and allocate funds according to different output

results (graduation rate, employment rate) standards.

Shift the focus of educational institutions from

enrollment to the labor market, meet the needs of

enterprises, and address various labor shortages.

Track student situations through data systems,

connect education and labor market achievements,

enhance vocational education flexibility, strengthen

long-term coordination relationships between

schools, students, and employers, and promote

industry education integration (Jia, 2019). Drawing

on this method not only provides a more reasonable

financial allocation plan for the integration of

industry and education but also establishes scientific

and specific performance indicators, ensuring the

efficient and sustainable use of funds and providing

strong support for the deepening development of

industry education integration.

5 CONCLUSION

This article takes Tianjin as an example to analyze the

impact of financial planning for higher vocational

Analysis and Prospect of Financial Fund Planning for Higher Vocational Education from the Perspective of Industry Education Integration:

A Case Study of Tianjin

243

education on the allocation of educational resources

and the quality of talent cultivation under the

background of industry education integration. Tianjin

has achieved great success in this regard but also

faces challenges.

The Tianjin Municipal Government attaches great

importance to higher vocational education and

provides institutional guarantees for it through the

release and implementation of policy documents. In

terms of fiscal funding planning, Tianjin is exploring

diversified funding mechanisms, optimizing the

structure of education expenditure, increasing

funding investment, and providing stable and

sufficient support for higher vocational education.

The government should provide certain preferential

subsidy policies, invest in vocational education

enterprises, and form a good interactive capital chain.

These measures have promoted the rapid

development of higher vocational education in

Tianjin, improved service capabilities and levels,

extensively utilized funds, achieved high coverage

and produced significant radiation effects.

However, when supporting vocational education,

the government needs to focus on the comprehensive

cultivation and development of the industry education

integration system, starting from the policy goal of

integrating social and economic benefits, ensuring

that the allocation of educational resources meets

social needs and enables long-term development. In

Tianjin, there is a lack of specific rules for matters

beyond hardware equipment in related fields, such as

standardized implementation paths and operational

rules. In addition, there is a lack of a scientific and

reasonable evaluation standard system for project

completion, which makes it difficult to accurately

measure and provide feedback on actual effects and

values and affects policy adjustments and

optimizations. Therefore, based on the common

problems mentioned above, this article believes that

the government should formulate specific and

feasible policy texts, clarify goals, tasks, and

measures, and guarantee conditions. Further, improve

relevant regulations to provide legal protection for

multi-party deep participation in the integration of

industry and education. Combining the above

improvement methods, guides and promotes the

integration of industry and education towards higher

quality and deeper levels, and achieves precise

docking and deep integration of educational resources

and socio-economic needs.

AUTHORS CONTRIBUTION

All the authors contributed equally and their names

were listed in alphabetical order.

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