Wang Jingwen believes doing vocational training was a better option for him than pursuing academic studies.

The 24-year-old studied at the Shenyang Equipment Manufacturing Engineering School and now earns 3,000 yuan a month at Bridgestone Shenyang Tire Company.

He expects his salary to rise when he completes his electrical engineering certificate, which he has been doing part time, and does not feel that doing vocational training bars him from a future management career.

"I want to develop into a senior engineer. I can prove that I can do as well or even better than many college graduates who just have a diploma yet have no mastery or knowledge of practical techniques,"he says.

Wang, who was speaking in the lobby of the Traders Hotel in central Shenyang and already has the air of a professional manager, insists vocational training is not second best.

"For those of us who prefer using our hands, vocational training has provided me with a more suitable career path."

For Chi Zhengyang, 25, another graduate of the same school, vocational training was the passport to get away from low-paid work in a small private factory in Liaoning Benxi, a city about 70 kilometers from Shenyang.

"The working conditions there were terrible. There was no systematic training and I was very poorly paid."

He now works for Shenyang Blower Works Group Corporation, a local manufacturing company, and also earns 3,000 yuan a month.

"The salary is actually better than that because the company provides a good insurance package. I am quite confident about my future."

Both were taught by Xiao Youcai, who has been involved in vocational training for 28 years and who believes it has a vital role to play within the education system.

"Compared with university education, which has strict standards of academic performance, vocational training has lower barriers to entry," he says.

"However, people, however, who otherwise might have been held back can develop the skills they have. Some prove to be remarkably talented and outpace those who have gone down the academic route."

Vocational schools have a proven track record over many years of producing people who go on to hold senior positions, he says.

"Though some students tend to start as just factory workers, with experience, they can easily become senior technicians and even senior engineers. Their payment and social status will be improved as a result," he says.

Wang, who is from Cifeng, in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and who began vocational training at 16, says going down the academic route was never a serious option for him became his parents were farmers.

"I grew up in an ordinary or even poor family, so the higher education tuition fees would have proved too big a burden. But I haven't ruled out an academic course in future."

Chi, whose 21-year-old sister did hairdresser vocational training, says he regards his training as opening a new series of opportunities.

"I have learned a comprehensive range of skills in machinery and mechanical engineering. I can now have a good future. Vocational training has changed my life."

Wu Yong and Liu Ce contributed to the story.

(China Daily European Weekly 09/05/2014 page8)