Governing Vocational Education Reengineering: The Role of Educational Administration in Sustainable Development

Abstract

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the global pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), vocational education systems worldwide face persistent structural challenges, including misalignment with labor market demands, fragmented governance, inefficient resource allocation, and uneven quality assurance. While existing studies primarily address curriculum reform or pedagogical innovation, limited attention has been paid to the governance mechanisms that enable systemic transformation. This study addresses this gap by conceptualizing vocational education reengineering as a governance-driven process led by educational administration. Employing a mixed-method research design that integrates a systematic literature review, comparative case studies, and semi-structured interviews, the study identifies five interdependent administrative functions: policy framework reconstruction, cross-sectoral collaboration, resource allocation optimization, quality assurance enhancement, and digital transformation promotion. These functions are synthesized into a coherent “policy–collaboration–resource–quality–digitalization” framework. The study contributes theoretically by reframing educational administration as a core explanatory variable in vocational education governance, and practically by offering an analytically transferable framework to guide vocational education reform in diverse institutional contexts.