Shenzhen Polytechnic University (SZPU), located in Nanshan, has once again been named China's top vocational college, according to a ranking released by higher education consultancy ShanghaiRanking.

Shenzhen Polytechnic University. File photos

Shenzhen University of Information Technology (SUIT), with campuses in Longgang and Shanwei, ranked seventh nationally.

As the nation's first undergraduate-level vocational school benchmarked to a top-tier university, SZPU has long been a frontrunner in China's vocational education. The industry-education consortium co-founded by the university and Huawei was selected as one of the first 28 national models.

The university has established the nation's first Huawei-certified ICT Academy Support Center, and has built 17 specialized industry colleges and eight industry-education integration communities in partnership with Fortune Global 500 companies, industry leaders, and trade associations. Together with its industry partners, the university has developed 136 specialized talent cultivation programs and 2,369 course standards.

This fall semester, the university plans to enroll 2,550 undergraduate students – an increase of 1,380 over last year, more than double its previous intake. Its new Shenshan Campus will admit its first cohort of 320 junior college students this year, offering programs in AI applications, engineering, new energy vehicle technology, and smart connected vehicle technology.

The university has also added five four-year programs: low-altitude aircraft engineering, electrical engineering and automation, robotics, supply chain management, and network and new media.

Shenzhen University of Information Technology

Shenzhen University of Information Technology.

Meanwhile, SUIT has also doubled its enrollment this year, taking in 600 undergraduates. The school added seven new majors – information security and management, open-source technology development and application, smart connected vehicle engineering, semiconductor equipment engineering, AI engineering, automation and applications, and robotics – bringing its total number of majors to 12.

The Best Chinese Vocational Colleges Ranking was first released in 2023. It uses up-to-date, objective data to evaluate educational performance and provides a reference for students, parents, administrators, and researchers interested in the vocational education landscape.

The evaluation system adopts a comprehensive framework comprising six core modules, which assess each institution's performance in student character development, precision in positioning, faculty quality, educational resources, student development, and social services. The rankings feature 12 sub-lists, providing a tiered and categorized assessment of over 1,400 higher vocational institutions nationwide.