In search of a governance framework of vocational education and training for the 21st century: an international comparative study

Abstract

This paper focuses on the governance framework in relation to the decision-making process which designs, moulds and formulates the policy on vocational education and training (VET) to meet the needs of various industrial and commercial sectors in Hong Kong.</p><p>There has been a long history of an apparently close relationship among government, businessmen and academics who form a tripartite alliance in making decisions on VET within the framework of the government’s co-optation strategies. Such a triple alliance may be regarded as a necessary and desirable outcome of the political system and environment in Hong Kong. It may also be a trend towards which many countries, whether developed or developing, have steered their system of policy-making in relation to VET.</p><p>This paper will attempt to analyze the concept of a co-optative decision-making system in relation to VET by comparing it to the traditional mode of decentralized decision-making process, which had been put into place since the 1960s. An overview of the decision-making systems of 10 selected countries will be made in order to understand why and how the policies on VET may be formulated in the context of the diversity of social and political systems in these countries and yet still follow a general pattern of cooperation and rationalization among various stakeholders. These 10 re