Abstract

Education is an important pathway to social equity. However, education inequity makes it hard. In this research, I present a rarely addressed field of education equity by focusing on China’s higher vocational education (HVE). With an investigation of students’ admission to HVE, participation in HVE, and success via HVE, I argue that HVE students have been treated unequally in the whole process of HVE in terms of a hierarchical selection system, limited access, insufficient funding, high tuition, narrow skill learning, limited upward mobility, and low employment rate. Moreover, while the government has paid attention to resolve other inequity issues, limited upward mobility has been strongly reinforced by government policy. Finally, I conclude by suggesting that improving social acceptability and credibility of HVE is vital to improve unequal situations of HVE students. In this study, analyses and discussions are unfolded within a mixed framework of higher education equity extracted from Bailey and Morest (2006), Berne and Stiefel (1984), Coleman (1966), and UNESCO (1985). That is: equity in admission, equity in participation, and equity in gaining success.