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 5 / 18 constrain the development of IEI in vocational education. Specifically, the study draws on research findings related to IEI, sourced from major databases such as ScienceDirect and Web of Science, to establish a comprehensive foundation for the review. Initially, relevant literature was collected using keywords such as “industry-education integration,” “integration of industry and education,” “school-enterprise cooperation,” and “school-enterprise collaboration.” The selected literature was systematically reviewed, resulting in the identification of 13 potential factors that hinder the development of IEI. These factors include: the completeness of policies, the willingness of enterprises to cooperate, the alignment of talent cultivation quality, the level of attention given by universities, the degree of teacher involvement, the extent of student engagement, the ade- quacy of hardware and software facilities, the differences in talent cultivation philosophies, the achievement of school- enterprise mutual interests, the clarity of school-enterprise responsibilities and rights, the effectiveness of school-enterprise communication, the closeness of prior university-enterprise collaboration, and the fluidity of school-enterprise cooperation channels. The definitions and sources of these potential constraining factors are provided in Table 1. 2.2. Determining the critical constraining factors

Determining the critical constraining factors is essential for unraveling the underlying mechanisms that impede the devel- opment of IEI. A questionnaire survey, as a widely used method for identifying critical factors in contemporary research [37,51,52], was consequently adopted in this study. Specifically, the survey focuses on stakeholders who are closely involved in the integration of vocational education and industry, including government agencies, vocational educational institutions, and enterprises, all based in Shenzhen, China. The questionnaire comprises two sections. The first section collects fundamental demographic data regarding the respondents, including gender, age, education level, profession, years of work experience, and their understanding their comprehension of IEI within the context of vocational education. This section aims to ensure that the selection of respondents is both scientifically valid and representative. The second section comprises items designed to measure the degree of constraint imposed by the identified potential constraining factors, as detailed in Table 2. A total of 13 items are included, each corresponding to one of the 13 previously identified potential constraining factors. Furthermore, this study utilizes a five-point Likert scale to assess the level of constraint associated with each factor. Respondents are asked to rate each item on a scale from “1” to “5,” corresponding to “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Neutral,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree,” respectively. The survey was conducted from

October 2023 to February 2024, utilizing both online and offline methods for distribution and data collection. In total, 624 questionnaires were collected, with 534 valid responses. Fig 1. The research process and methods. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0339158.g001