(Photo/Zheng Yan)

Jiangsu has made great strides in the development of vocational education since 2012, according to the press conference of the province's Department of Education on September 29.

The province led the country in a number of indicators to gauge vocational education development as provincial fiscal expenditure for projects in the sector amounted to 7 billion yuan.

In terms of secondary vocational education, Jiangsu has 47 schools recognized as national role models. The proportion of graduates who later got higher education jumped to 70% from less than 40% 10 years ago.

The number of schools for higher vocational education increased from 77 to 91 in Jiangsu, among which 15 were recognized as national role models and 17 got excellence honors.

Vocational schools in the province have strengthened connection with industries. Jiangsu is now home to 32 vocational education groups at the provincial level, which form a network of more than 400 schools and 1,000 enterprises.

The province also invested more than 1.5 billion yuan to build 100 platforms designed to deepen the combination of higher vocational education and more than 20 industries.

Over the past 10 years, the province also won the largest number of first prize in the National Vocational College Skills Competition.

The planning and development of vocational schools in Jiangsu also aligned closely with the industry development. Nine cities have built vocational education facilities to support the development of priority fields such as smart manufacturing, new materials, energy, environmental protection, health and modern agriculture, accelerating the industrial transformation to technology-driven development.

Data also shows Jiangsu trains about 500,000 technical and skilled workers every year. The total number of professional and technical talents in Jiangsu reached more than 8.3 million, ranking first in the country.