ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Optimizing School-Enterprise Collaborative Career Guidance in Higher Vocational Education: A Case Study in Chongqing, China
by
Xiantong Zhao 1 
Meng Zhan 2
Haixin Chu 3
1 Southwest University, Chongqing, China
2 Southwest University, Chongqing, China
3 Southwest University, Chongqing, China
ABSTRACT
As the global labor market transitions toward digitalization and green economies, bridging the school-to-work gap through effective career guidance has become a critical challenge for higher vocational education. Drawing on synergetics, this study investigates the operational mechanism of school-enterprise collaborative career guidance in China. Using a qualitative case study approach at College A in Chongqing, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 29 stakeholders and field observations of six typical collaborative activities. The findings reveal significant “synergy failures” within the current mechanism, characterized by fragmented information flows, structurally disconnected faculty capacity, siloed cross-departmental coordination, and imbalanced interest allocation. Viewed through the lens of synergetics, these structural barriers represent a failure of subsystem coupling and an absence of effective order parameters, which ultimately lead to persistent mismatches in students’ career clarity, skill development, and job-major alignment. To transition the system from fragmented operation to synergetic evolution and self-organization, this study argues that institutional optimization must move beyond isolated interventions. It proposes a deeply integrated “synergetic governance” model that couples information sharing, cross-empowered teaching staff, unified managerial coordination, and mutual interest realization. This research contributes to international debates on vocational education governance and provides actionable insights for countries seeking to enhance youth employability through multi-actor collaboration.
Keywords: Higher vocational education, School-enterprise collaboration, Career guidance, Synergetics, Case study
HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
Zhao X., Zhan M., Chu H. (2026). Optimizing School-Enterprise Collaborative Career Guidance in Higher Vocational Education: A Case Study in Chongqing, China, MAP Social Sciences, 7, 24-37. doi: https://doi.org/10.53880/2744-2454.2026.7.24