Quantitative Analysis Of China's Application-Oriented Talents Cultivation Policies

Faced with a new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the Chinese government has implemented policies to cultivate application-oriented talents. Application-oriented talents utilise engineering theories and technical methods to achieve engineering objectives. Cultivating such talents enables Chinese engineering education to meet better the needs of local economic and social development, promoting the differentiated development of Chinese higher education. We use quantitative methods to analyse China's application-oriented talents cultivation policies. The analysis focuses on the changes in policy contents and characteristics of policy responses to capture the developmental trends and critical stages of these policies. Findings from our study indicate that China's policies and measures are more and more specific according to the practical demands. There has been a shift in emphasis from scale expansion to quality improvement in application-oriented talents cultivation. The evolution of these policies follows a pathdependent pattern with gradual changes over time. Most provinces have actively responded to the Chinese central government's policies. However, there is a specific time lag in their responses. The number of response policies formulated by a single policymaker is higher than those formulated jointly by multi-policymakers. Our study can provide educators and policymakers with a clearer understanding of the critical focuses and characteristics of cultivating application-oriented talents and references for formulating and implementing engineering talent cultivation.