Institutional Analysis of the Recruitment and Management of High-Level Talent in Higher Vocational Colleges in China

Abstract

The high-quality development of vocational education requires the support of high-level teachers. However, the recruitment of high-level talent in higher vocational colleges (HVCs) has difficulties, such as insufficient attractiveness in salary and professional development, a lack of vocational education-specific talent categorization, and an absence of systematic planning in recruitment processes. Some colleges have even resorted to the controversial practice of recruiting low-quality “degree-holders” in order to achieve the goal of talent recruitment. Under China's grand strategy of building a leading country in education, such challenges in HVCs’ talent recruitment and management have not only affected the quality of the teaching staff but also triggered social attention and debates on talent evaluation standards and recruitment policies. This study adopts an institutional logic perspective to analyze relevant national policies and institutional documents concerning the recruitment and management of high-level talent in HVCs. Through text analysis of 27 national policies and 6 institutional documents of HVCs and local governments, the study finds that national policies present a dual discourse of “administrative accountability” and “autonomy,” a meritocratic value system, and the assumption of the “school as corporation.” These institutional elements impose structural pressure on HVCs, defining the values and offering an underlying rationale for practical flexibility simultaneously. On one hand, colleges translate policy implications and engage in institutional imitation to gain “legitimacy.” On the other hand, these talent recruitment institutions in colleges create space for flexible interpretation within recruitment procedures as a form of “leeway.” Based on these findings, the study further explores the multiplicity and internal consistency of institutional logics in the recruitment and management systems of HVCs and proposes recommendations for addressing these challenges through institutional entrepreneurship. Policymakers and administrators of HVCs should actively engage multiple stakeholder groups in the formulation of institutional policies and boldly challenge existing certification and evaluation frameworks. Emphasis should be placed on the flexible recruitment of industry professionals, prioritizing their up-to-date professional skills, innovative capabilities, and digital literacy. These approaches aim to establish talent recruitment standards, institutional frameworks, and practical discourse systems that are well-suited to the demands of vocational education.

Keywords

higher vocational education high-level talent talent management institutional logic education policy

Introduction

Teachers are the primary resource for the development of education. The high-quality development of higher vocational education in the new era requires the establishment of a highly skilled, specialized, and innovative teaching workforce. In recent years, both the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government emphasis on the development of the higher vocational education teaching workforce. In 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Teacher Workforce Construction in the New Era,” which highlighted the need to strengthen support for the construction of the vocational education teacher workforce, focusing on improving their professional quality and refining the management system for vocational college teachers. In 2022, the Ministry of Education (MoE) issued the “Notice on Carrying Out the Vocational Education Teacher Workforce Capacity Enhancement Action,” emphasizing the improvement of vocational education teachers’ educational qualifications and the establishment of a diversified selection mechanism for vocational education teachers. As a result, the development of teacher recruitment, management, and professional development systems has become a powerful support and effective pathway for advancing the deepening reforms of higher vocational colleges (HVCs) in the new era.

However, the high policy expectations for the teaching workforce are gradually transforming into institutional pressures for hiring talent in HVCs. On one hand, although the scale of higher vocational education is rapidly expanding in twenty-first century, there is a shortage of teachers. From 2000 to 2019, the enrollment growth in higher vocational education has much faster than the enrollment growth in general undergraduate programs. The enrollment in higher vocational education grew from 487,000 to 4.836 million, while enrollment in general undergraduate programs only expanded by about 2.5 times during the same period (Yu & Kuang, 2024). In 2023, the student-to-teacher ratio in general undergraduate institutions was 17.51:1, while in HVCs it was 18.92:1, highlighting the shortage of teaching staff in HVCs. On the other hand, the current educational background structure of teaching staff in HVCs is relatively low. The “Management Measures for Setting up Undergraduate-Level Vocational Education Programs (Trial)” issued by the MoE in 2021 stipulated that HVCs offering undergraduate-level vocational education programs must ensure that no less than 15% of the professional faculty holding a doctoral degree are full-time teachers, linking the development of HVCs with the proportion of highly educated teachers. However, according to Liu (2024), by 2022, the proportion of full-time teachers with doctoral degrees in Chinese HVCs was only 2.51%. Therefore, under the dual pressures of policy expectations and existing deficiencies, HVCs are increasingly implementing institutional reforms, developing strategies for “talent-driven development” to enhance the recruitment and management of high-level talent. But in this process, some HVCs use academic qualification levels as a single indicator instead of a comprehensive evaluation of talent quality, even spending large amounts of money to hire low-quality “degree-holders” as high-level talents, which has drawn widespread societal attention to the disorder in talent recruitment in HVCs. Therefore, this study aims to explore the development and interrelations of talent recruitment and management systems in HVCs through a text analysis of relevant policies and institutional frameworks at the institutional level. The research seeks to uncover the causes of the institutional dilemmas in talent recruitment and management in HVCs and provide strategies for improving such system that is suitable for their development.

Literature Review and Theoretical Perspective

High-Level Talents

Talent is considered a high-level social productive force. Becker's (1964) human capital theory stated that talent is the knowledge and skills accumulated through education and training that enhance productivity and economic outcome. In global research, high-level talents are often referred to as “highly skilled professionals” or “elite talent,” emphasizing their expertise in specific fields (Irjala, 2024) and their creativity and innovativeness (Chasserio & Legault, 2009) in workplaces. However, there is no unified definition of high-level talents in the education research area in Chinese context. The earliest studies about high-level talents in China dated back to 1986, when Hao and Cai (1991) divided high-level talents into four types: production implementation, design and development, research, and technical management. They also explored the diversity of the talent's ability structures, but the concept of “high-level” was not clearly defined in this study.

In the context of vocational education, high-level talents mainly refer to teachers. Therefore, a conceptual definition of high-level talents can be made through the demands of HVCs regarding the quality of teachers’ work, particularly from the perspective of required capabilities. The “Implementation Plan for Deepening the Reform of the Dual-Teacher Faculty Development in Vocational Education in the New Era” by MoE stated that efforts should be made to build a high-level talent team consisting of teaching masters, professional leaders, and backbone teachers with noble ethics, superb skills, and high educational ability, which provided an overall definition of high-level talents in HVCs. From the perspective of capability requirements, HVCs emphasize the integration of the “three characteristic”—haracteristic’hat efforts should be made to build a high-leveHe & Du, 2021), which encompasses theory, teaching and research, and professional skills. Based on this, the specific criteria for high-level talents might be possessing senior professional titles, holding doctoral degrees, or achieving outstanding research accomplishments (Gu et al., 2022). In terms of talent impact, Zhang (2009) believed that high-level talents should play a “leadership, exemplary, and pioneering role” in HVCs. Based on previous studies, HVCs’ high-level talents in this study could be defined in the following three aspects: (a) teachers who significantly outperform the majority of existing teachers in theoretical knowledge, technical skills, teaching and research, and development potential; (b) teachers who hold senior titles or advanced degrees, honorary technical skills titles, or remarkable research achievements; (c) teachers who exert a strong leadership influence on the development of the college.

Global Comparison and Practical Dilemmas in the Recruitment and Management of High-Level Talents in Chinese HVCs

Galbraith (1985) believes that the success of modern organizations will increasingly depend on technical talents. Mckinsey pointed out that the war for talent had commenced and will intensify, urging enterprises to focus on the recruitment and management of talent. Consequently, the tradition human resource management has shifted to new talent management, exemplified by the comprehensive management of suitable talents for key positions within the organization (ASTD, 2009). In terms of management processes, Behrstock (2010) categorized talent management into three main components: recruitment, development, and retention. Wellins et al. (2009) argued that hiring talents with the right competencies is more efficient for the organization than training these abilities. Therefore, for HVCs, newly recruited high-level talents might be the most difficult to acquire or be replaced elements. How to attract sufficient and suitable talent has become a decisive factor in whether HVCs can improve their educational standards and stand out in competitive peer comparisons.

From a global perspective, vocational education has long been subject to varying degrees of societal prejudice as a distinct educational category, impacting its attractiveness to high-quality educators. In Singapore, educational resources are disproportionately allocated to elite education, resulting in relatively lower remuneration for vocational educators, which hinders the recruitment of highly qualified industry experts into teaching roles (Zhang, 2025). Similarly, Germany faced challenges in the 1990s with shortages and lower qualifications of vocational educators in technical and engineering fields (Chen & Sun, 2024). In Hong Kong, an “entrenched biased perception” persists that vocational education is a less desirable progression pathway compared to academic streams (Secretariat, 2022).

However, with the growing socioeconomic demand for diverse talents, vocational education has regained significant attention and recognition in advanced economies over the past decade (Secretariat, 2022). Countries such as Australia, Singapore, and Germany have implemented policies to enhance the quality of vocational education teacher training and recruitment standards.

Regarding teacher standards, some nations have established evaluation systems for vocational educators based on a “dual qualified” framework, emphasizing the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge. In Germany, the vocational education teacher evaluation standards are rooted in its dual education system, comprising industry trainers (Ausbilder) and school teachers (Lehrer und Lehrerin) who collectively form the teaching workforce (Rao & Yang, 2025). This system prioritizes not only theoretical and pedagogical expertise but also practical occupational skills. In Australia, the key challenge in becoming a dual-qualified vocational education teacher lies in the professional learning required to maintain vocational qualifications, which focuses on competency-based approaches to training and assessment. Additionally, the depth of industry experience required and the opportunities for teachers to maintain industry currency pose significant challenges (AITSL, 2021). In Singapore, the primary criterion for recruiting vocational educators is up-to-date industry experience rather than pedagogical knowledge and skills (Varaprasad, 2021), indicating that these educators typically possess extensive experience in specific industries.

In terms of teacher training, Germany has developed integrated bachelor's and master's degree programs (Chen & Sun, 2024) that emphasize career orientation, practical integration, and adaptive flexibility within teaching teams (Mao & Xia, 2025). The European Union, meanwhile, places greater emphasis in its vocational education teacher training curricula on educators’ mastery of advanced technologies, particularly digital technologies, to ensure they are equipped to prepare students for future opportunities (Chen et al., 2024).

In comparison with the aforementioned countries and regions, China has also placed significant emphasis on the “dual-teacher” model (which stresses both theoretical teaching proficiency and practical guidance capabilities) in the development of its vocational teaching workforce. Nevertheless, HVCs continue to face challenges in recruiting high-level talent, as they must compete with other universities, where they are consistently at a disadvantageous position. Research by Gu et al. (2022) and Gao and Zhou (2022) had highlighted such a dilemma. Their studies, focusing on the public recruitment of high-level talents in four HVCs in Jiangsu Province and three public HVCs in Yangzhou City, respectively, revealed that these institutions generally present low completion rates for recruitment targets. This situation stems from both external environmental factors and internal institutional challenges. Externally, HVCs struggle to attract high-level talents due to limitations in salary and professional development opportunities (Long et al., 2024). Additionally, influenced by regional economic and social status, high-level talents in central and western regions exhibit “one-way, low-return” flow pattern (Duan et al., 2024), while a “siphon effect” is observed in the comparison among HVCs, with talents increasingly concentrating in major cities (Wang, 2021). Internally, most HVCs lack a clear definition of high-level talents and systematic planning for talent recruitment (Du, 2023). And the selection of policy tools often lacks characteristics tailored to vocational education, thereby diminishing the comparative advantages in talent recruitment. Therefore, for HVCs, the key to standing out in this “talent war” is to recruit talents suitable for college development through rational planning and institutional design.

The Institutional Background of Recruiting and Managing High-Level Talents in HVCs

The disorder in the recruitment and management of high-level talent in HVCs reflects the institutional dilemma. Organizational ecology theory argues that the competition for resources in organizations affects their survival and growth, while institutional theory points out that cultural resources play an equally important role in the growth and formation of organizations. New institutionalism researchers had developed organizational theory around the core issue of organizational rationalization (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), creating the concept of institutional isomorphism (Meyer & Rowan, 1977), which profoundly revealed how organizations tend to resemble one another in order to align with institutional rules in the environment. New institutionalism not only helps researchers to effectively explore how institutional characteristics are shaped in organizational structures but also allows for an examination of the decisive factors within the institutional system itself.

In the area of high-level talent recruitment and management in HVCs, the influence of external institutions is also significant. He and Jian's (2023) study presented the recruitment practices of high-level talent in HVCs under the policy orientation. In 2019, the policies “Opinions on Implementing the Chinese-Style High-Level Higher Vocational Schools and Programs Construction Plan” and the “Implementation Plan for Deepening the Reform of the ‘Dual-Teacher’ Development in Vocational Education for the New Era,” clearly outlined the “Double High Plan” (a selection program to promote high-quality HVCs in China) and the vocational college teacher quality improvement plan. Subsequently, many provinces and cities released related policies for high-level talent recruitment. These external institutions, on one hand, reflected a policy orientation in higher vocational education similar to that of “research universities” and the “Double First-Class” initiative, leading to an isomorphism of talent management goals in HVCs; on the other hand, by defining the concept of high-level talent, these policies provided an important basis for the recruitment and management institution arrangements for high-level talent in HVCs (He & Jian, 2023).

However, new institutionalism primarily focuses on the penetration and shaping process of external culture and values in organizations, with more attention paid to the influence exerted by the institutional background on organizations. This approach somewhat neglects the agency of organizations themselves and the cognitive sources driving them. Existing studies mainly focus on the impact of policies on universities or the independent analysis of vocational talent recruitment systems. While these studies explain why the recruitment and management systems of high-level talent in HVCs appear “similar,” they often underestimate the phenomenon of recruiting low-quality “degree-holders” as the “side effects” of the system (Chen & Zhi, 2021). This simplistic interpretation fails to address the deeper institutional processes and the inadequate institutional construction underlying these practices.

Theoretical Perspective

In response to the insufficient explanations of organizational heterogeneity and agency within new institutionalism, and with a focus on the multilayered nested institutional orders in social theory, Friedland and Alford (1991) established the meta-theory of institutional logics. They argued that multiple, and even conflicting, institutions shape individual preferences, organizational interests, and the actions they may take to achieve their goals. Meanwhile, these multiple institutional logics provide individuals and organizations with the means to leverage these contradictions to transform the institutional relations of society. The concept of institutional logics has been further developed by Thornton, Ocasio, and Lounsbury. Thornton and Ocasio (2008) defined institutional logics as historically constructed social patterns concerning cultural symbols and material practices, including assumptions, values, and beliefs. They argued that individuals and organizations act within interinstitutional systems and proposed four basic analytical principles of institutional logics from a meta-theoretical perspective: the duality of agency and structure, the material and symbolic nature of institutions, the historical contingency of institutions, and the multiple analytical levels of institutions (Thornton et al., 2012). This perspective seeks to analyze institutional processes at the macroscopic (social and institutional fields), intermediate (organizational), and microscopic (individual and interaction) levels, combining social structures, culture, and agency to explore how individual and organizational actors are influenced by institutional logics and, conversely, how they can actively create and modify these logics.

This study adopts institutional logic as a theoretical lens to construct the theoretical framework (Figure 1), analyzing the interaction between the recruitment and management system for high-level talent in HVCs and policy context from a macro-to-intermediate perspective. The study explores the generation of this system and the nested relationships of its internal institutional logics, thereby forming a comprehensive understanding of the arrangements and practices of high-level talent recruitment and management in HVCs.

Figure 1.

The theoretical framework of this study.

Methodology

This study adopts an interpretivism paradigm and qualitative methods to collect and analyze the texts of talent recruitment and management institutions in HVCs. The concept of institutions in this study refers to the regulative aspect of institutions, with governing rules serving as the foundation for order. These are policies or rules approved and implemented by formal organizations through instrumental logic and coercive mechanisms. In the context of talent recruitment and management in HVCs, this refers to a series of formal, textual, legally approved institutions. From a hierarchical perspective, these can be categorized into national policy documents, relevant documents issued by various levels of government, and the recruitment and management measures for high-level talent published by the HVCs themselves.

The institutional texts collected for this study are divided into two categories. The first category consists of national policy documents related to teacher recruitment and professional development in higher vocational education. As key institutionalization drivers, nation-states serve as the primary source of legitimate order and influence organizations through policies and regulations, thus forming the macro-institutional environment for talent recruitment and management in HVCs. In this study, the researcher collected 27 relevant policy documents (Table 1) published by national authorities since 2012, including those issued by the Central Committee of the CPC, the State Council, MoE, and their affiliated agencies, which focus on vocational education and teacher development.

Table 1.

The Collection of the Policy Documents (Excerpt).

Issuing Agency	Release Time	Document Title	Number
State Council	May 2014	Decision on Accelerating the Development of Modern Vocational Education	ZC-2014a
MoE and four other departments	June 2014	Plan for the Construction of the Modern Vocational Education System (2014–2020)	ZC-2014b
MoE	June 2015	Opinions on Deepening the Grouped Operation of Vocational Education	ZC-2015a
MoE	July 2015	Several Opinions on Deepening Vocational Education Teaching Reform to Improve the Quality of Talent Cultivation	ZC-2015b
Office of the State Council Education Supervision Committee	March 2016	Interim Measures for Evaluating the Ability of Higher Vocational Colleges to Meet Social Needs	ZC-2016a
General Office of the MoE	March 2017	Management Measures for the Vocational College Teacher Quality Improvement Plan	ZC-2017
State Council	January 2019	National Vocational Education Reform Implementation Plan	ZC-2019a
MoE, Ministry of Finance	March 2019	Opinions on Implementing the Plan for the Construction of High-Level Vocational Colleges and Programs with Chinese Characteristics	ZC-2019b
MoE, Ministry of Finance	April 2019	Selection Management Measures for the High-Level Vocational College and Program Construction Plan (Trial)	ZC-2019c
MoE and three other departments	August 2019	Implementation Plan for Deepening the Reform of the “Dual-Teacher” Faculty Development in Vocational Education in the New Era	ZC-2019d
General Office of the MoE	January 2021	Management Measures for Setting up Undergraduate-Level Vocational Education Programs (Trial)	ZC-2021b
General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the General Office of the State Council	October 2021	Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Modern Vocational Education	ZC-2021c
General Office of the MoE	November 2021	Evaluation Indicators and Basic Requirements for the Undergraduate Teaching Work of Vocational Schools (Trial)	ZC-2021d
MoE and four other departments	November 2022	Implementation Plan for Meeting the Standards of Vocational School Conditions	ZC-2022c
General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the General Office of the State Council	December 2022	Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Modern Vocational Education System	ZC-2022d
National Development and Reform Commission and seven other departments	June 2023	Implementation Plan for the Vocational Education and Industry-Education Integration Empowerment Action (2023–2025)	ZC-2023a
General Office of the MoE	July 2023	Notice on Accelerating the Advancement of Key Tasks in the Reform of the Modern Vocational Education System	ZC-2023b

Note: Only the core policies cited in the following are presented, and a total of 27 policies were actually collected and analyzed.

The second category consists of the talent recruitment and management institutional documents formulated by HVCs, as well as the talent recognition documents adopted by the regional governments in which they are located. These systems constitute a set of institutions at the intermediate level, providing direct basis and value guidelines for the recruitment and management activities of these colleges. Specifically, researchers collected the talent recruitment and management documents from four HVCs (anonymized as college A, B, C, and D) and regional talent recognition documents (Table 2). The four HVCs examined in this study are all full-time public vocational colleges, representing the most common type of higher vocational education institution in China. These institutions are located in the economically developed regions of eastern and southern China, where they share a commitment to enhancing institutional quality through the recruitment of high-level talents. Consequently, they demonstrate a rapid response to national policies, actively developing talent recruitment systems and formulating ambitious annual plans for recruiting high-level talent. Furthermore, the talent recruitment and management systems of these four schools were all established in 2023, ensuring the timeliness for institutional analysis. According to information published on their official websites, in 2023, Schools A and B planned to recruit five and six high-level talents (PhDs), respectively, but actually recruited three and four, indicating a low completion rate of their recruitment plans. School C did not disclose its intended and actual recruitment data for high-level talents, and School D did not specify a target number in its plan, although it recruited 16 high-level talents in total in 2023.

Table 2.

The Collection of the Documents by HVCs and Regional Governments.

Issuing Agency	Release Year	Document Title	Number
Human Resources Office, A College	2023	Measures for the Introduction and Management of High-Level Talents at A College (Trial)	BF-A1
Research Office, A College	2023	Measures for Quantifying and Incentivizing Research Achievements at A College	BF-A2
Local Government of A College	2017	Measures for Classifying and Recognizing High-Level Talents	BF-A3
Human Resources Office, B College	2023	Measures for the Introduction and Management of High-Level Talents at B College (Trial)	BF-B
Human Resources Office, C College	2023	Measures for the Introduction and Management of High-Level Talents at C College (Trial)	BF-C
Human Resources Office, D College	2023	Measures for the Introduction and Management of High-Level Talents at D College	BF-D

Based on the collection and organization of data, this study adopts an institutional logic theoretical perspective to conduct qualitative text analysis. It explores the policy characteristics and value orientations of the development of higher vocational education in China at the macro institutional field level and analyzes the institutional features and implicit meanings of the high-level talent recruitment and management systems through HVCs’ institutional arrangements. Furthermore, this study compares the text analyses of these two levels to examine the multiple institutional logics present in the talent recruitment and management practices of HVCs, exploring the conflicts and compromises between different institutional logics. This leads to an understanding of the institutional pressures and structural dilemmas faced by these colleges.

During the data analysis process, to mitigate the potential for subjective interpretation in textual analysis, this study employs the theoretical framework to systematically guide the coding process. Additionally, in terms of coding procedures and techniques, two authors independently conducted coding, followed by collaborative team coding to finalize the coding categories, thereby reducing subjectivity in the analysis process. A three-level hierarchical coding technique is used in this study to analyze the content. The analysis of policy texts yielded 143 first-level codes, 21 second-level codes, and 3 third-level codes; the analysis of institutional texts from the HVCs and regional governments resulted in 13 first-level codes, 5 second-level codes, and 2 third-level codes. A sample of the coding is presented in Table 3.

Table 3.

A Sample of the Coding Categories.

	First-level Codes (Excerpt)	Second-level Codes (Excerpt)	Third-level Codes
National policy texts	Student-to-teacher ratio	Quantitative indicators	Bureaucratic administration and autonomy
	Evaluation criteria for undergraduate vocational education	Assessment and evaluation
	……	……
	Last-position eliminating system	Competition	Meritocracy
	Performance reward and punishment mechanism	Performance management
	……	……
	Position and employment mechanism	Talent management	School as corporation
	Shareholding system reform	Diversity of organization form
	……	……
Institutional texts from the HVCs and regional governments	Flexibility in talent recruitment procedures	Recruitment	Institutional connotation
	Referral mechanism	Performance-oriented management
	……	……
	Development goals	Translation of government policies	Basis for institution formulation
	Talent classification and recognition criteria	Interorganizational institutional imitation
	……	……

Note: Due to space constraints, only a portion of the primary and secondary codings is presented.

Findings

The Institutional Structure and Symbolism in Policy

The material and symbolic elements of institutions are key principles from the theoretical perspective of institutional logic. The material elements of institutions include structure and practice, while the symbolic elements encompass culture and value. Based on the comparative analysis of national policy texts and school institutional texts, talent recruitment and management in HVCs are, on one hand, directly influenced by structural aspects of policies, such as those related to school operation, organizational structure, and management system. On the other hand, the cultural elements reflected in policies, such as values and underlying assumptions, also exert a subtle impact on the institutional framework and practical orientations of colleges. In terms of structural elements, there is a dual discourse of hierarchical management and institutional autonomy. The study finds that national policies present a dual discourse of “administrative accountability” and “autonomy” at the structural level, a meritocratic value system, and the assumption of the “school as corporation” at the symbolic level.

In terms of management mechanisms, policy documents present a dual discourse of administrative accountability and autonomous development. Overall, the direction of vocational education development and reform in China has shifted from “pursuing scale expansion to improving quality” (ZC-2019a), which indicates the focus of expanding high-quality vocational education resources (such as vocational higher education, ZC-2021c). In terms of management structure, it has evolved from a “government-dominated to a government-coordinated management and socially diversified education provision” (ZC-2019a), with an emphasis on “reducing interference in the specific educational and teaching affairs of colleges” (ZC-2014a). Specifically, the autonomy in policy texts is reflected in areas such as school operation, personnel management (including recruitment and salary distribution), major establishment, department management, organizational structure, and enrollment (ZC-2019d, ZC-2014b, ZC-2019a, etc.). Such encouragement for school autonomy has been clearly stated in ZC-2019b:

Further expand the autonomy of schools in major establishment, institutions arrangement, personnel recruitment and employment, and funding. Establish and improve a mechanism for fault tolerance and correction in reform and innovation, and encourage “Double High Plan” colleges to boldly experiment and make bold attempts. (ZC-2019b)

However, policy documents also reveal characteristics of administrative accountability in vocational education management. The policies set quantitative standards for teacher recruitment qualifications, program standards, and faculty structure, such as requiring “the number of teachers with master's degrees or above to account for no less than 50% of the total full-time teachers at both the school and program levels, with no less than 15% of teachers in undergraduate programs holding doctoral degrees” (ZC-2021d). This highlights a goal-oriented approach to teacher professional development and talent cultivation, along with performance management. In terms of assessment and evaluation, there is an emphasis on government departments’ comprehensive management and quality monitoring of teacher training and program development (ZC-2017, ZC-2021b, ZC-2023b etc.) to strengthen guidance on school operations. In this intertwined discourse, HVCs are granted the power of “self-management and self-restraint” (ZC-2019b), while still facing administrative accountability pressures and being influenced by the goals and standards set by the policies.

In light of values, policies reflect a “winner-takes-all” meritocratic tendency. Meritocracy refers to the principle that social and economic rewards should be determined based on merit (Zhu, 2024). This policy orientation is shown in the development of HVCs. The government has initiated a wave of excellence in higher vocational education by promoting the construction of undergraduate vocational programs (ZC-2021c), high-level HVCs and programs (ZC-2019b), and demonstration colleges (ZC-2015b). Within this context, competition among colleges is emphasized, with policies stipulating that “schools with poor educational quality, low social recognition, and failure to meet various standards should be merged or have their operations terminated according to the law” (ZC-2022c), and the implementation of a “performance evaluation system with elimination of the lowest performers” (ZC-2017). The competition between colleges is closely linked to resources. Regions with a favorable environment for vocational education, strong promotion of key indicators, noticeable reform outcomes, and substantial funding for “Double High Plan” will receive more support for college construction. On the other side, projects with insufficient fundraising, slow progress, and limited results (ZC-2019c) will face warnings and reductions in funding based on performance evaluation results. This means that schools with an advantage will acquire more resources, while those in disadvantaged positions, if unable to improve, are likely to be eliminated.

At a deeper level, the policy reflects the assumption that “school as corporation,” emphasizing the social adaptability of HVCs and their development in terms of structural diversity. In terms of teacher quality, the policy stresses “dual-skilled” teaching workforce, combining professional expertise and practical ability (ZC-2019d). In terms of talent cultivation and program layout, there is a focus on aligning education with regional economic industries, in order to better “serve local economic and social development and meet the needs of industry development” (ZC-2016a). In terms of organizational form, the policy encourages colleges to form groups and supports the growth of private vocational education. It also encourages shareholding and mixed-ownership reforms to stimulate the vitality of HVCs, while also ensuring a better market-oriented approach to education that strengthens the vocational education system's adaptability to the market economy (ZC-2014b). Regarding the management of teachers, the policy reflects guidance for colleges to recruit and train teachers that are suitable for their specific needs. By establishing diversified and flexible positions and recruitment mechanisms (ZC-2022c) and implementing “customized, personalized” faculty training programs (ZC-2022d), HVCs can cultivate a teaching workforce that is responsive to societal needs and aligned with the unique characteristics of vocational education.

The Connotation and Basis of the Recruitment and Management System for High-Level Talents in HVCs

At the organizational level, all four higher HVCs have adopted hierarchical and categorized standards for the recruitment of high-level talents, but significant flexibility is evident in the specific recruitment procedures. In addition to public recruitment, these institutions also offer alternative employment methods, such as transfers (BF-A1) and flexible recruitment (BF-A1, BF-C, BF-D). For talents categorized as “leading talents” or “urgently needed technical skills” (BF-D), the colleges provide case-by-case and individualized negotiation approaches for recruitment and compensation. Furthermore, Institution A has introduced a comprehensive evaluation process for talent recruitment, stipulating that “for individuals with high academic achievements and significant development potential, restrictive requirements such as SCI paper metrics, journal rankings, language proficiency, and project levels will not be simplistically applied” (BF-A1). Instead, external peer experts are invited by the personnel department to conduct comprehensive evaluations. The institutional texts are evident that, on one hand, the colleges have delineated the classification criteria and achievement requirements for talent recruitment, demonstrating strong normative and structural characteristics. On the other hand, these texts also reveal a diversity of recruitment methods. Moreover, there is no clear definition of what constitutes “urgently needed” or “high-potential” talents, leaving space for institutional interpretation and creating “leeway” for their talent recruitment efforts.

From the perspective of talent management, the institutional documents reflect a performance-oriented approach characterized by high welfare benefits and stringent assessment management. Those who are recruited as high-level talents not only receive high salaries but are also granted access to public institutions, relocation allowances, and research funding. Additionally, their spouses, if meeting certain requirements (such as holding a bachelor's or associate degree), may also be offered employment (BF-D). In contrast, the documents impose service duration requirements ranging from 5 to 8 years, coupled with strict contractual penalties for breaches (e.g., in BF-D, “if the service period is not completed, the relocation allowance must be fully returned to the college, and research startup funds must be refunded as required”). All the colleges have clearly defined the target tasks and work requirements for various categories of high-level talents, specifying the research achievements and outcomes they are expected to deliver after recruitment. College A has even quantified these outcome requirements in detail (BF-A2) and established a “bonus-point” talent evaluation system (BF-A1). Other colleges have implemented stage assessment (BF-C, BF-D) and corresponding ranking systems (BF-A1, BF-C). The underlying management logic is, first, to restrict the frequent mobility of high-level talents through extended service periods and breach penalties, and second, to establish a performance-driven incentive mechanism by setting clear outcome targets and enforcing rigorous evaluation and assessment processes.

In light of institutional formulation, the texts primarily reflect HVCs’ responses to their own developmental needs, the translation of government policies, and institutional imitation among organizations, demonstrating characteristics of “vertical translation” and “horizontal imitation.” Colleges B and C did not clearly propose development goals or requirements in their documents, opting instead for more abstract expressions such as “promoting high-quality development of the college” (BF-B). In contrast, colleges A and D more directly articulated their practical goals of building “dual-high” colleges. As a translation of the national policy of grading high-level talents (ZC-2019d), all four institutions defined the hierarchical classification of talents from different perspectives and incorporated titles such as “teaching masters” and “professional leaders” into the recruitment criteria. In addition to translating national policies, colleges also “borrow” content from relevant documents of the local governments. For instance, college A's classification criteria for its “leading talents” closely mirrored the categories of “world-class talents,” “nationally recognized leading talents,” and “provincially recognized leading talents” outlined in the local government's high-level talent classification guidelines (BF-A3). While this high degree of content borrowing provided institutional support, it also led to a lack of distinct characteristics specific to higher vocational education. Compared to the talent classification standards of the other three colleges, A's criteria notably lacked standards related to high-level professional technical talents, which may have contributed to the lackluster performance of its talent recruitment efforts. Furthermore, although colleges A, B, and C are located in different regions, they coincidentally used the phrase “strengthening the college through talent” in their documents, suggesting there might be mutual imitation in the institution-making processes.

The Interrelationship Between National and Organizational Institutional Logics

This study presents a complex nested relationship of institutional frameworks across macro and intermediate levels of analysis, encompassing the translation of policy content by HVCs, the reproduction of policy values and underlying assumptions, and the negotiation process after the full absorption of the policy by these HVCs.

Specifically, the bureaucracy and meritocracy embedded in the policy jointly create structural pressures on HVCs’ institutional formulation. The meritocratic trend, with its focus on excellence and the competition for top-tier talent, alongside the corresponding administrative management pressures and performance indicators, serves as the primary driving force behind the formulation of institutions for the recruitment and management of high-level talent. In turn, the institutional frameworks of the colleges reflect a translation of national policies to gain legality.

Both meritocracy and the corporate assumption provide value orientation and operational logic for the formulation of institutional frameworks. The performance-oriented talent management mechanisms within the institutions could be understood as replication and practical implementations of these principles in policy. Through institutional arrangements, HVCs strategically translate the meritocratic values within the policy into the recruitment of top-level talent, thereby constructing a talent management system primarily driven by performance goals. Moreover, college B creatively introduced a “talent recruitment award” to “reward individuals who have made contributions to the recruitment of high-level talents to the college. Each recruitment of a doctoral talent will be rewarded with 5,000 CNY” (BF-B), which rewards individuals who contribute to the recruitment of high-level talent, a mechanism clearly inspired by corporate management practices.

Although the corporate assumption informs the operational logic behind the talent recruitment processes in colleges, the flexibility of these procedures largely arises from the colleges’ autonomous policy discourses. The policy, which “allows schools to independently set positions, determine personnel plans, and define recruitment standards, content, and procedures” (ZC-2022c), provides a foundation for colleges to develop flexible recruitment processes. These policy frameworks and logics provide colleges with a certain degree of autonomy, allowing them to establish diverse recruitment procedures and leave room for flexible recruitment standards and processes, thereby creating a “leeway” for the institutional practice of talent management.

Conclusion and Discussion

Conclusion

The study finds the mutual connection and negotiation process of the system at the national-organization level, and reveals the possible causes of the institutional dilemma of talent recruitment and management in HVCs. Specifically, there is an implicit “root metaphor” of “school as corporation” in the discourse of national policy documents. This “root metaphor” is reflected in the meritocratic value orientation and is ultimately reembodied and reaffirmed in the performance-oriented talent recruitment and management institution of HVCs. Based on the core value orientation, the policy documents present a dual discourse of “administrative accountability” and “autonomy.” Both of these discourses impose structural pressure on the institutions and provide a certain degree of flexibility in terms of institutional arrangement and practice. Among them, the expression of “administrative accountability” prompts HVCs to take national policies as the blueprint for formulating talent recruitment and management institution, and strive to obtain organizational legitimacy through the “translation” of national policies to alleviate the structural pressure from administrative accountability. Further, this mechanism of obtaining “legitimacy” leads to mutual imitation among organizations and ultimately accelerates the adaptation of relevant institutional systems of HVCs to the elitist value in the policy. The expression of “autonomy” constructs a flexible “policy interpretation space” for the institutional practice of talent recruitment and management of HVCs. Especially as the process of multiobjective cooperation and professionalization progress, HVCs gradually absorb the independent logic of corporate development in the institutional practice of talent recruitment and management, form a local flexible recruitment procedure, and create a “leeway.” The talent recruitment and management systems of HVCs respond to the structural pressure of the external institutional environment on one end of the policy discourse and obtain formality and basis from it. At the same time, it absorbs the concepts and experiences of independent development and corporate logic on the other end and independently constructs a “leeway” of institutional practice as a relief to external pressure. In this sense, the chaos in talent recruitment in HVCs is not just a “side effect” or “alienation” (Dong et al., 2022) of the policy but an “institutional negotiation” process for HVCs to achieve their own survival and development under the meritocracy orientation of policy and the structural pressure of administrative accountability. The emphasis on the independent development of colleges in the policy discourse and the deep assumption that “school as corporation” also gives schools imagination to handle the system flexibly in practice.

Overall, the study provides a macro-intermediate multilevel analytical perspective and research framework for reference for related research on the management system of HVCs, presents the institutional complexity and interaction mechanism between the nation and the organization, and forms a theoretical construction of the institutional formulation process and institutional practice of HVCs (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

The interrelationship between national and organizational institutional logics.

Discussion: Revisit the Theory of Institutional Logics

The analysis of this study shows that institutional elements can not only be isolated or mixed in multiple institutional logics but also have mutually nested relationships and present many logical structures that are obviously different from those in Western societies (Lounsbury & Wang, 2023). The dual discourse conveyed in the policy reflects the obvious national logic under bureaucracy, and the concept of “community” (such as “personnel exchange and cooperation community” and “school-enterprise community of destiny”) mentioned in policy documents also reflects the strong characteristics of Chinese discourse (Li, 2024), reflecting the community logic of collectivist spirit such as common boundaries, trust and reciprocity. And the deep-seated assumption of “school as corporation” represents the corporate logic. Furthermore, whether it is the discourse of school autonomous development or the meritocratic values and corporate assumptions, they all point to the background of education marketization. On a global scale, this could be regarded as a neoliberal education development trend, reflecting the influence of market logic in the process of talent recruitment and management system. As for HVCs, although the system adopts and draws on the corporation's practice in specific measures, it emphasizes the response to government policies and the mutual imitation of interorganizational systems in the formulation basis. This may be because the lifeline of the company is the profit it generates under the cost–benefit model, but the lifeline of the school is the “legitimacy” in the institutional pressure. Such a difference leads to that it can only imitate the methods of the company but cannot imitate the essence of the company's output requirements, forming a potential tension between form and substance.

The whole set of talent recruitment and management systems constructed by meritocracy under the assumption of corporate institutional logic has “high self-consistency” (Figure 3). From the perspective of the self-consistency of the external institutional environment, the system content reflects the quantitative assessment content of talent management, caters to the “institutional myth” of standardized assessment in modern scientific management, and has the “legitimacy” of the external organizational system; this “legitimacy” is reproduced and reconfirmed through institutional isomorphism (diffusion, imitation) among HVCs, so there is a convergence of the content of talent recruitment and management systems in HVCs. From the perspective of internal consistency within the organization, this system responds to the top-down “accountability mechanism” of the bureaucratic system, that is, the various assessments and promotions of HVCs in the policy, and therefore has the “effectiveness” of an internal organizational system; and the “flexible procedures” in the talent recruitment bring about the “leeway” of institutional practice, which gives the organization and individuals within it the necessary agency and negotiated order to alleviate the rigid nature of bureaucracy.

Figure 3.

The self-consistency of talent recruitment and management system in higher vocational colleges (HVCs).

However, such self-consistent system can drive or construct behavior in a way that is “taken for granted,” resulting in path dependence (Campbell, 2004). Moreover, the institution-makers of HVCs are often internal actors, and their “embedded agency” will be affected by norms, regulations, and cognitive processes and reshape their cognition (Friedland & Alford, 1991), thus forming a new structuralization process and rejecting the possibility of “institutional innovation” and “institutional transformation.” Therefore, the “entropy increase” process of institutional practice will lead to an increase in disorder in the operation of organizational systems. At this time, the self-consistency of the system is manifested as the prevalence of “formalism,” which is reflected in talent recruitment that academic qualifications and “titles” are the most important things to be valued.

Limitations and Implications

Limitations

This article has two limitations in terms of research materials and research perspectives and suggests possible directions for future research. Firstly, in terms of the selection and processing of materials, this study adopted text analysis of policy and institutional documents, which might miss lived experiences, and hence limit the depth of practical insights. Secondly, this study focuses on macro and meso-level perspectives, lacking sufficient attention to micro-level perspectives (such as those of participants and administrators involved in the selection and appointment of high-level talents), thus limiting the diversity of research conclusions. Therefore, subsequent research can further deepen the exploration and understanding of this topic through interviews or surveys conducted with different stakeholders, such as teachers, administrators, and HR staff.

Implications: Dilemma Breakthrough and International Contribution

This study has demonstrated the institutional dilemmas in the recruitment and management of high-level talents in China's HVCs from a conceptual level. This section will further discuss its implications in the context of the transformation and development of vocational education in China, as well as the recruitment and governance of international vocational teachers.

For the administrators of HVCs, the most valuable task is to find talent recruitment standards and management pathways suitable for vocational education. The concept of institutional entrepreneurship suggests that the actors could utilize resources to create new institutions or transform existing ones. Therefore, institution-makers in HVCs should recognize the limited impact of “embedded agency” on institutional reform, and incorporate different interest groups (such as external industry enterprises and relevant expert groups) into the formulation and improvement process of talent recruitment and management systems. By fostering communication and collaboration between internal and external stakeholders, HVCs can explore innovative pathways to establish their own talent recruitment standards, systems, and practical discourse, in order to relieve structural pressures and overcome disadvantages in the competition for talent resources.

Moreover, it is important to acknowledge that path dependence might be effective for the stable development of systems; it might also act as a “sleeping pill” that hinders organizational institutional innovation and impedes leapfrog development. Administrators and leaders of HVCs must possess the courage and determination to become “institutional entrepreneurs” while recognizing that attempting to adopt talent recruitment systems similar to those of undergraduate universities and research institutions may merely result in a continuous cycle of “reproducing dilemmas” in the competition for talent. Thus, institution-makers in HVCs should dare to break the existing rules and conventions tied to the dominant institutional logic, reconsider the unique characteristics of higher vocational education and the academic structure of their institutions, and develop talent certification standards, assessment requirements, and recruitment procedures that align with the developmental principles of vocational education. Furthermore, the successful formulation of these strategies should be disseminated to create a “diffusion effect” in institutional design paradigms, ultimately aiding HVCs in overcoming the challenges of high-level talent recruitment.

Specifically, within the context of China's breaking the “five-only” (overemphasis on test scores, academic advancement, academic credentials, published papers, titles, or labels) evaluation initiative, administrators should comprehensively consider the unique competency requirements and practical demands of vocational education when establishing talent recruitment standards. Greater emphasis should be placed on teachers’ practical and innovative capabilities rather than relying solely on academic credentials as a determinant of talent. Furthermore, particular attention should be given to evaluating high-level talents’ proficiency in digital skills and their mastery of the latest industry knowledge and competencies, thereby enabling them to effectively lead the development of innovative teaching teams and drive digital transformation in HVCs. In terms of talent recruitment, administrators should look beyond graduates with advanced academic degrees and prioritize industry professionals. By adopting more flexible recruitment and management approaches, HVCs can broaden the scope of high-level talent selection, expand the talent pool, and strengthen connections between educational institutions and corporations.

The institutional issues associated with talent recruitment and management in Chinese (HVCs) offer valuable insights for the development of international vocational education. Amid the processes of educational internationalization and marketization, a range of international rankings for higher education institutions has garnered significant public attention, fostering a monolithic discourse that equates high-quality universities solely with research-oriented, comprehensive institutions. In contrast, vocational education, as an educational paradigm distinct from elite education (Zhang, 2025), has increasingly been marginalized and stigmatized in many countries (Lee & Lee, 2021). This uniformity-driven logic suppresses difference (Young, 2011), thereby impeding the diversity of higher education development. This study not only highlights the difficulties faced by HVCs in recruiting high-caliber talent under the homogeneity of higher education evaluation standards but also proposes potential pathways for Chinese HVCs to achieve distinctive development within the policy context of institutional classification reforms. Specifically, under the premise of conceptualizing “schools as corporation,” HVCs can break through traditional development models that compete with universities. By recruiting tailored talents and fostering deep integration with regional industrial economies, HVCs can cultivate high-quality vocational education characterized by disciplinary and professional distinctiveness, as well as practical industrial advantages. In the era of accelerated innovation in digital technology and intelligent equipment, countries will require higher-quality vocational education as an effective support for economic development in the future. The important role of vocational education in cultivating talents proficient in intelligent and digital technologies will become more prominent, and the quality of vocational education teachers will also receive further attention. This study points out the institutional obstacles and potential opportunities existing in the current teacher recruitment in HVCs and proposes the possibility for HVCs to utilize their initiative to engage in institutional entrepreneurship and characteristic development. This will provide references for the formulation of policies related to teacher management in vocational education at the national level and for teacher recruitment and management practices at the college level.

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Duyu Li

Ethical Considerations

This study was conducted in accordance with the Academic Integrity Code of East China Normal University.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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