Constraints, mechanisms, and strategies for industry-education integration in vocational education: An empirical study

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0339158 December 18, 2025 13 / 18 the misalignment between educational philosophies and industry needs, the discrepancy between graduate competencies and employer requirements, the effectiveness of collaboration channels, and the fulfillment of mutual benefits and expec- tations. As intermediate-level factors, they further constrain development by decreasing enterprise willingness, obscuring clarity in responsibilities/rights/obligations, and undermining teacher motivation in the IEI process. Through a systematic analysis of the interrelationships among constraining factors, 16 constraining pathways inhibiting the development of IEI in vocational education were identified, as detailed in Table 6. The root causes analysis reveals that two bottom-level factors – the completeness of policies and the strength of prior university-enterprise collaboration – predominantly influence other mediating factors, ultimately constraining the progress of IEI. Regarding the completeness of policies, four distinct constraint pathways were established: (1) The existing incom- pleteness of policies governing IEI leads to unclear definitions of responsibilities, rights, and obligations between voca- tional institutions and enterprises; (2) These inadequacies significantly weaken institutional emphasis on integration implementation, consequently reducing faculty engagement; (3) Insufficient policy support adversely affects the estab-

lishment of effective school-enterprise collaboration channels; and (4) Policy gaps impede the development of essential supporting infrastructure and resources. Specifically, incomplete policies often lack clear funding provisions for vocational institutions to upgrade their training equipment or build industry-aligned training facilities. They also fail to set standards for corporate contributions of hardware, such as equipment donations or on-site training space. This leads to chronically underfunded hardware infrastructure. Notably, ineffective collaboration channels directly undermine corporate participa- tion willingness, while inadequate infrastructure indirectly impacts enterprise engagement by weakening the alignment between institutional talent cultivation outcomes and industry workforce requirements. Collectively, both insufficient enter- prise willingness and low faculty motivation directly hinder the effective implementation of IEI. Regarding the closeness of prior university-enterprise collaboration, a total of 12 constraining pathways were identified. Among these, two pathways hinder the development of IEI in vocational education by diminishing teachers’ motivation for engagement. Specifically, the lack of a robust foundation for prior collaboration between universities and enterprises directly deminishes teachers’ motivation to participate in IEI. Additionally, it indirectly affects teachers’ enthusiasm by impairing the effectiveness of communication and interaction between universities and enterprises. Furthermore, nine

pathways constrain the development of IEI by reducing enterprises’ willingness to collaborate. Specifically, a weak foun- dation of prior collaboration directly diminishes enterprises’ motivation to engage in IEI. It also indirectly lowers their willingness by reducing the smoothness of collaboration channels, the alignment between the quality of talent cultivation in universities and enterprises’ employment requirements, and the effectiveness of university-enterprise communication. Notably, the effectiveness of communication further indirectly influences enterprises’ willingness by directly affecting the differences in talent cultivation philosophies between universities and enterprises, as well as the fulfillment of mutual inter- ests and expectations in IEI. Ultimately, these factors impede the implementation of IEI in vocational education. In addi- tion, one pathway constrains the development of IEI by affecting the delineation of responsibilities, rights, and obligations between universities and enterprises. Specifically, a weak foundation of prior collaboration weakens the effectiveness of communication, and the lack of effective interaction hinders the clarification of each party’s responsibilities, rights, and obligations in the implementation process of IEI, thereby undermining its effective advancement. 4. Strategies for promoting IEI To promote IEI development in vocational education, this study proposes targeted strategies for the government, institu- tions, and enterprises based on the identified constraint mechanisms.

4.1. Government: Strengthening institutional safeguards The findings reveal that inadequate policies are a critical constraint on IEI. Therefore, the government should provide policy guidance and legal frameworks to standardize and promote its development. First, the responsibilities, rights, and