Constructing Cross-Cutting Ties: Reconfiguring Taiwan’s Vocational Education and Training System

How was Taiwan’s vocational education and training (VET) system reconfigured in a latecomer’s quest for industrial upgrading in the 21^st century? Conventionally, the literature assumes a dominant role of the East Asian state in industrial development, which holds for VET and implies a top-down system. Other studies suggest a market approach, given the decentralized industrial structure with many SMEs not favoring investment of human capital and in-house training; they, therefore, attribute Taiwan’s economic rise to its integration into global production networks and MNCs. Current research explores the role of the state, institutional arrangements, or firms as critical variables in explaining the upgrading processes/outcomes in the global value chains. However, industrial upgrading requires skilled laborers; little has been said about where their skills and training come from or how firms learn so effectively.

This lacuna is addressed by explaining the institutional dynamics of how regional experimental VET programs in central Taiwan, starting in the mid-2010s, subsequently diffused nationally to become the new national VET program that connects vocational high schools, firms, and polytechnic universities. The case of central Taiwan deserves investigation because the region houses the machinery and metalworking sector, with clusters of SMEs participating in complementary production for the global market. Skills are pertinent in the upgrading process. Contrary to the image of the East Asian developmental state-large industrialists nexus, this paper explains how a VET program could arise in a decentralized industrial setting. Contrary to the assumption of a dominant initiator, it began with peripheral foundry firms and then expanded nationwide to the machinery sector. Special attention is given to the coordinating role of associations (ranging from industry-specific to regional manufacturers’ associations) and the respective government agencies in constructing cross-cutting ties, inducing stakeholders, and building consensus in developing VET for Taiwan’s 21st-century decentralized industrial system.