Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education from the perspective of coupling coordination-an empirical study based on Chongqing

Industry subsystem 0.2644 0.2692 0.3482 0.3654 0.3427 0.3970 0.4478 0.4929 Education subsystem 0.3293 0.3336 0.3642 0.4201 0.5266 0.4259 0.4546 0.4743 Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 — Industry subsystem 0.5431 0.5828 0.6063 0.6616 0.6509 0.7476 0.6928 — Educational subsystem 0.4752 0.5026 0.5264 0.5795 0.6054 0.6105 0.6190 — https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572.t004 PLOS ONE Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education based on coupling coordination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572 September 18, 2024 14 / 22

industry and education. After 2014, the orderliness degree of industries increased rapidly and surpassed that of education, indicating that the coordination of industrial development in Chongqing during this period was better, and contributed more to the integration of industry and education. The results are shown in Fig 1. (2) Performance and development trend of the industry-education complex system. Similarly, the coupling degree C and coupling synergy degree D of the industry-education composite system can be calculated as shown in Table 5. To assess the collaborative development level and trend of industry-education integration of higher education in Chongqing, it is necessary to analyze from two aspects: the coupling coordination degree and coupling degree. Overall, from 2000 to 2022, the collaborative devel- opment of higher education industry-education integration in Chongqing has shown a contin- uous upward trend, but the degree of industry-education coupling has stagnated amid fluctuations, as shown in Fig 2. Fig 1. Orderly development trend of industry and education subsystem. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572.g001 Table 5. Coupling coordination level of industry-education composite system. Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Coupling degree 0.4987 0.4629 0.4748 0.4834 0.4747 0.4706 0.4659 0.4881 Coupling coordination degree 0.3398 0.3214 0.3191 0.3209 0.3097 0.2982 0.3251 0.3565 Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Coupling degree 0.4970 0.4971 0.4999 0.4988 0.4887 0.4997 0.5000 0.4999

Coupling coordination degree 0.3841 0.3871 0.4220 0.4426 0.4609 0.4534 0.4750 0.4917 Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 — Coupling degree 0.4989 0.4986 0.4988 0.4989 0.4997 0.4974 0.4992 — Coupling coordination degree 0.5040 0.5202 0.5315 0.5564 0.5602 0.5812 0.5722 — https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572.t005 PLOS ONE Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education based on coupling coordination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572 September 18, 2024 15 / 22

In fact, with the joint efforts of the government, enterprises, schools, industries, and all sec- tors of society, the integration of higher education and industry has gradually deepened in Chongqing, and the level of collaborative education between schools and enterprises has been continuously improved. During the 13th Five Year Plan period, the Municipal Party Commit- tee and Government incorporated the integrated development of higher education industry and education into the overall planning of industrial development, prioritizing education and integrating talents into various policies. In conjunction with the implementation of national major strategies such as innovation driven development, new urbanization, and the strategy of building a strong manufacturing country, they formulated policies for the integrated develop- ment of industry and education, committed to building an innovation ecosystem that closely coordinates higher education institutions with industry backbone enterprises and small and medium-sized entrepreneurial enterprises, enhancing the ability to gather talent resources and drive industrial upgrading. The municipal government continued to promote the transforma- tion of ordinary undergraduate institutions into applied technology oriented higher education institutions, and supported the transformation of higher education institutions to carry out professional degree graduate education. Encourage higher vocational schools with conditions to cooperate with applied technology undergraduate colleges to cultivate high-quality technical

talents, promote interactive development between higher education and industry, and so on. These measures have effectively promoted the industry-education integration in school-enter- prise cooperation. However, due to multiple factors such as institutional mechanisms and pol- icy environments, the coupling intensity of industry-education integration in higher education has stagnated, and the quality of industry-education integration needs to be improved. Some disciplines and majors in applied universities were misaligned with the layout of industrial development, and there was a disconnect between the supply side of talent train- ing and the demand side of industrial development. Enterprises were not actively involved, Fig 2. Coupling collaborative development trend of industry-education complex system. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572.g002 PLOS ONE Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education based on coupling coordination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572 September 18, 2024 16 / 22

lacking an effective incentive and restraint mechanism. The form of school-enterprise cooper- ation was loose, and industry enterprises did not participate deeply enough. The overall faculty in applied universities was weak, with insufficient practical teaching capabilities and outdated infrastructure, which still falls short of national standards. These issues hindered the further deepening of industry-education integration. 4. Conclusion and suggestions 4.1 Conclusion Using synergy theory, an industrial-educational composite system and a performance evaluation model for industry-education integration were constructed. Based on the "struc- ture-conduct-performance" analytical paradigm, the indicator system was decomposed. Tak- ing the statistical data of Chongqing from 2000 to 2022 as a sample, the performance of industry-education integration in higher education was evaluated, and its development trend was analyzed. The research results showed that in the long run, the construction effectiveness of the industry-education integration in higher education in Chongqing was obvious, and the collaborative level was constantly rising. The orderliness of the industry subsystem and the education subsystem continued to rise alternately, jointly promoting the continuous increase in the collaborative degree of the industry-education complex system. However, the coupling intensity between industry and education was not high, and the coupling level stagnated, which restricted the further deepening of the industry-education integration. From the per-

spective of collaborative theory, industry-education integration is a systematic project. Therefore, starting from four levels: industry subsystem, education subsystem, industry-educa- tion complex system, and external environment, collaborative efforts were made to promote the continuous improvement of performance in the industry-education integration in higher education in Chongqing, achieving sustainable development of industry-education integration. 4.2 Suggestions (1) At the industrial subsystem level, release the effective demand of industrial develop- ment for higher education, and improve the enthusiasm of industry and enterprises to par- ticipate in the integration of industry and education. First, establish an incentive mechanism for industry and enterprises to participate in the industry-education integration and the cooperation between schools and enterprises, encouraging industry and enterprises to participate in the educational activities of colleges and universities with land, patents, talents, funds, technology and other elements, fulfill their responsibilities according to law and enjoy management and decision-making rights, forming an incentive and restraint mechanism where responsibilities, rights, and interests are equal, so as to improve the enthusiasm of indus- try and enterprises to participate. Second, support enterprises to deeply participate in the edu- cational reform of vocational schools and colleges, encouraging enterprises to participate in various ways in school major planning, talent training scheme formulation, curriculum text-

book development, internship training, teacher training, assessment and evaluation, etc., giv- ing play to the role of enterprise demand in driving talent development. Third, explore a new governance structure for enterprises to participate in the industry-education integration, allowing qualified districts and counties and industry departments in Chongqing to promote the joint-stock reform and mixed ownership reform of applied colleges and vocational schools, establishing an organizational model with clear property rights and clear responsibilities. Attract local well-known enterprises and international and domestic famous enterprise groups to participate in school-enterprise cooperation, jointly establishing secondary industry colleges PLOS ONE Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education based on coupling coordination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572 September 18, 2024 17 / 22

such as Internet plus, artificial intelligence, information technology around the industrial layout. (2) At the education subsystem level, improve the supply quality of higher education to industrial development, and meet the demand for talents and services in industrial devel- opment. First, application-oriented colleges and universities should, based on their own school-running characteristics and resource advantages, explore various forms of industry- education integration collaborative education models to improve the quality of talent cultiva- tion. It is necessary to guide institutions, enterprises, government departments, social organi- zations and other cooperative entities to jointly invest in funds, technology and other elements, jointly build disciplines, talent cultivation bases and experimental training facilities, and form a joint education model. Second, production and operation practice activities should be integrated into teaching links, and a collaborative education system that integrates theory and practice should be constructed to improve the quality of education. By learning from the successful experience of domestic and international industry-education integration models such as the German dual system, British alternating work-study program, French apprentice- ship system, and domestic industry-university-research cooperation, we should continue to explore the school-enterprise alternating integration talent cultivation mode, and clarify the dual identity of student apprentices. The theory-practice-theory alternating should be applied

to the entire process of talent cultivation such as course learning, experimental training, skill competition, graduation design. The third is to integrate industry and education to build a " double-qualified" teaching staff, promote two-way talent flow, and improve the quality of the teaching staff. Carry out the evaluation of "double-qualified" titles for university teachers, enterprise engineers, economists, accountants, etc., and improve the salary, benefits, and allowances for dual teacher titles. Encourage university teachers to work part-time in indus- tries and enterprises, and engage in production and operation work such as technology, man- agement, and management in specific positions to gain practical experience. Support enterprise management, technology, and business personnel to work part-time as practical mentors in higher education institutions, carry out practical teaching, and obtain part-time honorary titles and economic rewards. (3) At the industry-education complex system level, promote the interactive coupling of supply and demand between various industries and higher education, and promote the collaborative development of industry-education integration. First, establish a mechanism for interaction between school-enterprise teachers and students, where university teachers serve as enterprise consultants or enter the industry for temporary positions, and enterprise professionals are employed, taught, or trained in universities. Students learn interactively and complementarily in both on-campus classes and off-campus bases, forming an interactive edu-

cation model. Schools and enterprises, as the supply and demand sides of talent cultivation, directly sign a commissioned cultivation agreement, where enterprises supervise and partici- pate in all aspects of the cultivation process, and sign an employment agreement with students after the completion of the cultivation, forming a commissioned cultivation model that aligns supply and demand. Second, promote the alignment of supply and demand through the indus- try-education integration, where higher education institutions collaboratively promote the construction of disciplines and specialties in response to industry needs. The discipline and specialty system is adjusted in a timely manner to meet the needs of Chongqing’s modern manufacturing industry, strategic emerging industries, and strategic emerging service indus- tries. Prioritize support for the construction of disciplines and specialties in artificial intelli- gence, Internet technology, information technology, big data, etc., which are urgently needed in Chongqing at this stage. Vigorously develop specialized disciplines such as smart manufacturing, high-end equipment, new energy, new materials, biomedicine, energy PLOS ONE Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education based on coupling coordination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572 September 18, 2024 18 / 22

conservation and environmental protection, as well as intelligent logistics and integrated sup- ply chain management. Third, plan collaboratively for industrial development and higher edu- cation, optimizing the layout of integrated industry-education development. Integrated industry-education development in higher education is included as an important content in the industrial development planning system, optimizing the spatial layout of integrated indus- try-education development, guiding outstanding talents to concentrate in industrial and popu- lation agglomeration areas, supporting high-quality educational resources to serve the rural revitalization strategy, and integrating with the primary industry in rural areas. (4) At the external environment level, optimize the support and guarantee environment for the integration of higher education and industry, and create a good atmosphere for the integration of industry and education through multi-party collaboration. First, the link- age of fiscal, financial, and insurance policies to enhance the level of protection, increase finan- cial support for applied colleges and universities, and create a policy environment for the industry-education integration. Increase financial investment in the industry-education inte- gration, improve the infrastructure conditions and talent cultivation environment for the industry-education integration in applied colleges and universities. For the industry-education integration projects, support financial departments such as banks to develop diversified

financing products to provide financial support for the industry-education integration. Estab- lish liability insurance and personal accident insurance for productive practices such as off- campus student internships and off-campus base training, and encourage commercial insur- ance companies to develop specialized supporting systems for modern apprenticeships and new apprenticeship systems in enterprises. Second, the linkage of government, enterprises, and schools to implement demonstration projects of the industry-education integration, creat- ing a good atmosphere for the industry-education integration. Taking the national industry- education integration project as an opportunity, promote the transformation construction pilot and demonstration project of high-level applied undergraduate colleges and universities in our city, and exchange successful experiences in the industry-education integration. For dif- ferent levels of development in different districts and counties, carry out pilot projects for the construction of demonstration districts and counties for the industry-education integration in a hierarchical and step-by-step manner. Establish a performance evaluation system for the industry-education integration, formulate incentives for the industry-education integration, and play a role in benchmarking guidance and demonstration effects. Supporting information S1 Dataset. (XLSX) Author Contributions Conceptualization: Xianwen Gong. Data curation: Xianwen Gong. Formal analysis: Xianwen Gong. Funding acquisition: Xianwen Gong. Investigation: Xianwen Gong.

Methodology: Xianwen Gong. PLOS ONE Performance evaluation of industry-education integration in higher education based on coupling coordination PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308572 September 18, 2024 19 / 22

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