Notice from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Further Standardizing the Management of Vocational Skills Training

Human Resources and Social Security Departments (Bureaus) of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

In order to implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, consolidate the achievements of special rectification work on vocational skills training and evaluation, further standardize the management of vocational skills training, and promote the employment of laborers with skills, with the consent of the Ministry of Finance, the relevant work notification is as follows.

 1. Strengthen employment orientation and establish the "two directories and one system".

(1) Focus on key industries and urgently needed occupations (types of work) to set up a guidance directory for vocational skills training needs. Human resources and social security departments in each province (region, city) should strengthen the employment-oriented training, and in consultation with the finance department at the same level, guide cities and counties to publish the vocational skills training needs guidance directory based on local industrial development and employment needs, clarifying urgently needed vocational skills training projects, which may include training types, occupation (type of work) names, subsidy standards, etc., and should be made public in a timely manner and adjusted dynamically. Priority should be given to urgently needed occupations (types of work) in strategic emerging industries, advanced manufacturing, modern service industries, and local pillar characteristic industries, labor service brands, etc. The training hours can refer to national occupational standards, industry enterprise evaluation specifications, special vocational ability assessment specifications, training plans, etc., and should be determined in conjunction with regional industrial development, enterprise job needs, and other situations. Inefficient and ineffective training projects that do not meet regional industrial development, enterprise job needs, or laborers' training and employment intentions should be promptly removed from the directory.

(2) Timely publish and dynamically adjust the directory of training institutions. Based on actual conditions, compile a directory of training institutions that carry out government-subsidized training projects, including vocational colleges, technical colleges, private vocational skills training schools, other schools or educational institutions, as well as enterprises and social organizations, and make it public in a timely manner and adjust it dynamically. The directory should include the institution's name, Address, nature of the school, and the training projects that can be carried out. Training institutions should have independent training capabilities, including faculty, venues, facilities and equipment, as well as curriculum systems and training teaching resources, and meet fire safety, health, safety, and epidemic prevention requirements.

(3) Promote the application of a real-name information management system for vocational skills training. Accelerate the construction and application of a province-level centralized real-name information management system for vocational skills training, and promote human resources and social security departments and training institutions to manage and carry out work through the system. Accelerate the sharing of training, employment, and social security information to provide integrated services for training and employment. Regions with conditions can explore the implementation of training information push, promote project-person matching, vigorously promote the interconnection of information systems with relevant departments, strengthen data sharing and verification of personnel enjoying training subsidies, set up risk control warning functions, and provide technical support for identity verification of trainees, screening and comparison of training projects, and remote real-time supervision.

2. Strengthen the management of vocational skills training and assessment evaluation processes.

(4) Strengthen supervision of the training process. Establish a verification system for the authenticity and completeness of training projects, implementing an application for class opening, process inspection, and graduation assessment system. The application for class opening includes elements such as the roster of training students, teaching plans, teaching faculty, teaching resources (textbooks, digital courses, etc.), and assessment plans. Improve remote monitoring, video recording, and other regulatory technical means to ensure that the training process is recorded, queryable, and traceable. For training institutions that enjoy government subsidies, on-site verification of training venues and facility conditions should be conducted. Explore the introduction of third-party supervision mechanisms to implement regular tracking management and evaluation of training institutions, training subjects, training processes, training quality, and the application and distribution of training subsidy funds. It may be combined with actual conditions to explore pre-notifying training institutions and trainees about the requirements for training organization implementation, subsidy application conditions, and responsibilities for violations, with training institutions committing to be responsible for the entire training process and authenticity, and trainees committing to be responsible for the authenticity of identity conditions.

(5) Strictly organize and carry out assessment and evaluation. Guide training institutions to promptly organize graduation assessments or vocational skills evaluations (including vocational qualification evaluations, vocational skill level recognition, and special vocational ability assessments) after training is completed. The content of the graduation assessment should fully reflect the core skills of the occupation (type of work) or special abilities, taking into account both theoretical and practical abilities, and have appropriate difficulty differentiation. For those who pass the assessment, a training completion certificate should be issued, accurately recording the name of the training institution, training project, time, etc. Provincial human resources and social security departments should strengthen the management of training completion certificates, which may include unified certificate serial numbers, names of trainees, identity information, names of training projects, training start and end dates, names of training institutions, issuance dates, and other relevant content format requirements. Explore strengthening employment tracking services for those who have completed training, making the employment outcomes after training an important part of the supervision of training institutions, credit evaluation, and brand building.

(6) Standardize the conduct of vocational skills evaluation. Coordinate the integrated management of vocational skills training and evaluation. Based on the actual economic and social development, laborers' employment status, and enterprise needs, optimize the management and planning layout of vocational skills evaluation institutions and evaluation occupations (types of work), control the quantity, improve quality, and strictly select social evaluation institutions. Strengthen technical guidance, quality supervision, and service support for vocational skills evaluation institutions, enhance evaluation process management, examination management, question bank resource construction, scoring result record keeping, certificate data management, etc., to ensure evaluation quality. Vocational skills evaluation institutions should earnestly fulfill their main responsibilities, carefully review the qualifications of participants, strictly follow assessment processes and examination discipline, and conduct evaluations according to national occupational standards and evaluation specifications. For those who pass the evaluation, accelerate the issuance of vocational skill level certificates. For those who do not meet the examination conditions, forge registration qualifications, lower examination difficulty, forge test papers, fabricate false materials, issue certificates without examination, or engage in the sale of certificates, the evaluation results of participants will be canceled, corresponding subsidy funds will be recovered, and rectification will be required within a specified period; those who fail to rectify within the time limit or do not rectify adequately will be dealt with according to relevant regulations; those suspected of committing crimes will be transferred to judicial authorities.

(7) Standardize "Internet + vocational skills training". The online implementation of vocational skills training activities using internet technology should comply with relevant national laws and administrative regulations on internet management. Online training platforms should have technical functions such as real-name verification, facial recognition, learning behavior control, learning record query statistics, instant interaction, and training quality control to ensure the platform operates safely and stably. For training projects organized by government departments, if online platforms are to be used for training, the online-to-offline class hour ratio should be reasonably determined based on the characteristics of the training project, and online training platforms should be publicly solicited, selected, and announced, establishing a quality assessment and dynamic adjustment mechanism for online training platforms and digital resources, clarifying regulatory responsibilities. It is prohibited for online training platforms to tamper with data, falsify online learning records, log in to the same account on multiple ports simultaneously, play non-front-end courses on multiple pages, engage in course brushing, hanging courses, substitute courses, exam brushing, substitute exams, etc. For online training platforms and training institutions that enjoy subsidies or act on behalf of subsidies that violate laws and regulations, training activities should be promptly suspended, rectification ordered, subsidy funds recovered, and removed from the directory, and administrative penalties should be imposed according to law and regulations; those suspected of committing crimes will be transferred to judicial authorities.

3. Strengthen the basic capacity building of vocational skills training.

(8) Build and cultivate high-quality training carriers. Promote a deep integration model of "skills training + employment services", cultivating a number of training institution brands that closely connect with the market, have distinct industry characteristics, strong faculty and equipment, and good employment services. Fully leverage the advantages of training resources from vocational colleges, technical colleges, leading enterprises, etc., and guide and support them to actively serve key groups and carry out order-based training. Classify and build a number of national-level high-skilled talent training bases and skill master studios, basically forming a training and skill promotion network for high-skilled talents covering key industries and urgently needed occupations (types of work). Strengthen the training and exchange of high-skilled talents in manufacturing and modern service industries.

(9) Strengthen the construction and management of teaching resources. Guide training institutions to select teaching resources such as textbooks and digital courses, actively selecting national basic vocational training packages and national-level vocational training planning textbooks from formal book distribution channels. Strengthen the development and updating of vocational training textbooks and teaching materials in key areas such as general qualities of skilled talents, the new apprenticeship system of Chinese enterprises, high-skilled talent training, as well as new industries, new technologies, new occupations, and digital skills.

(10) Strengthen the construction of the teaching staff. Guide training institutions to equip a team of full-time and part-time teachers and management personnel that is appropriate to the scale of the school and the profession (type of work), ensuring the effectiveness of training organization and implementation. Instructors should possess the corresponding qualifications (including vocational qualifications, vocational skill levels, and professional technical titles) or have long-term experience in related work with rich practical experience. Training institutions can hire high-skilled talents and skilled craftsmen with rich production practice experience and technical expertise from enterprises, industries, universities, and research institutions to undertake teaching tasks. Encourage localities to establish and improve the teacher training system for training institutions, organizing teacher training, research exchanges, teaching ability competitions, and other activities.

(11) Standardize the behavior of training institutions. Increase the supervision and inspection of training institutions, and explore the establishment of annual inspections, agreement management, credit evaluation, and other systems based on actual conditions. Use methods such as "double random, one public," school supervision, regular assessments, and third-party evaluations to strengthen supervision over training institutions receiving government subsidies, teaching staff, training safety, assessment and certification, advertising, enrollment activities, and fees, ensuring comprehensive quality checks within three years to promote standardized schooling. It is strictly prohibited for training institutions to directly or indirectly buy and sell eligible students under the guise of enrollment fees, or to illegally subcontract government-subsidized training projects under the pretext of joint schooling or training cooperation, colluding with trainees to provide false information to defraud funds, etc. Training institutions that organize "interest-based training" or "filling numbers training" without the purpose of employment and entrepreneurship to receive subsidies by inflating numbers shall be ordered to rectify within a time limit; those who fail to rectify on time will be removed from the directory. For training institutions that engage in illegal subsidy fraud, falsification, misappropriation of subsidies, illegal subcontracting for profit, etc., different measures such as recovering subsidy funds, suspending enrollment, ordering rectification, removing from the directory, revoking school licenses, and holding accountable will be taken, and administrative penalties will be imposed according to the Vocational Education Law, Private Education Promotion Law and its implementation regulations, Labor Security Supervision Regulations, and other laws and regulations; those suspected of crimes will be transferred to judicial authorities.

4. Strengthen the overall use and supervision of subsidy funds

(12) Strengthen the overall planning of training funds. Make good use of employment subsidy funds, unemployment insurance funds, and special account funds for vocational skill improvement actions to support and guarantee vocational skill training work. For eligible trainees, provide vocational training subsidies and living expense allowances as stipulated. The same level of training subsidies for the same profession (type of work) cannot be claimed repeatedly (including skill improvement subsidies for insured employees), and those who obtain higher-level certificates cannot claim subsidies for lower-level certificates in the same profession (type of work).

(13) Explore the establishment of differentiated subsidy standards. Explore the implementation of differentiated subsidy policies based on the urgency and scarcity of different professions (types of work), training costs, and the situation of obtaining certificates (including vocational qualification certificates, vocational skill level certificates, special vocational ability certificates, training qualification certificates, etc.) and achieving employment and entrepreneurship after training.

(14) Strengthen the main responsibility for fund management. Clarify the responsibilities and specific requirements for subsidy fund management with relevant departments (units) organizing training projects, and enforce the principle of "who uses, who is responsible" to ensure accountability. Focus on key links such as enrollment, graduation review, subsidy application, and fund disbursement, strengthen the review and data comparison of key elements such as subsidy recipients, subsidy standards, and attendance records, and enhance the collaborative supervision of prevention measures, human prevention, technical prevention, and community prevention to effectively ensure the safety and efficiency of training fund use. Human resources and social security and finance departments at all levels should publicly disclose information on the use of subsidy funds, including the names of units and relevant information about personnel receiving various subsidies (including partially hidden ID numbers, work units, and job titles), subsidy standards, subsidy amounts, and training content.
 

5. Strengthen organizational leadership and management services

(15) Strengthen departmental collaboration. Under the leadership of various levels of talent work leading groups and employment work-related leading groups, human resources and social security departments should strengthen overall coordination, play the role of relevant industry authorities, jointly organize key group training needs surveys and implementation work, and form a work pattern of provincial overall planning, departmental participation, and city-county implementation. Reasonably determine the annual work plan, decompose work tasks, enforce management responsibilities, and ensure supervision and implementation. Support county-level (and above) governments in coordinating the establishment of key supported training projects, unifying training standards, and carrying out high-quality training.

(16) Provide convenient and efficient services. Relying on government department portals, public employment service information platforms, official WeChat accounts, etc., publicly disclose the directory of vocational skill training demand guidance to facilitate workers' inquiries and choices based on needs. Support and guide workers to voluntarily participate and choose independently, and they can register for training through methods such as advance payment and credit payment. Workers bear part of the training costs in addition to enjoying government subsidies, with subsidies primarily disbursed directly to individuals, while enterprises and training institutions apply for subsidies according to relevant management regulations, enhancing workers' initiative in participating in training and supervising training effectiveness. Work with finance departments to further optimize the subsidy application process, handling conditions, application materials, and processing time to provide efficient services for workers. Promote the use of social security cards to distribute vocational skill training-related subsidies and ensure proper management.

(17) Strictly enforce discipline and law. Actively collaborate with relevant departments to legally combat issues such as relying on training for profit, collusion inside and outside, and fraudulently obtaining training funds, ensuring the unity of political, legal, and social effects. Establish a reporting system for important situations, and report any clues related to training fund safety to the local government and higher authorities immediately. Utilize various forms to regularly carry out warning education and integrity education, further enhancing the discipline and rules awareness of party members, cadres, and staff. Educate and guide training institutions and evaluation agency managers and staff to strictly adhere to integrity and self-discipline requirements, prohibiting the abuse of power, favoritism, and fraud for profit. During case handling, if clues of public officials suspected of job-related illegal activities are found, they should be promptly transferred.

(18) Strengthen policy publicity and interpretation. Fully utilize platforms such as newspapers, radio, television, government portals, government Weibo, government WeChat, and mobile apps to increase the publicity of policies related to skilled talents, helping enterprises, training institutions, and workers further understand and effectively utilize policies. Actively promote typical experiences in local skilled talent training, advanced deeds of workers achieving wealth through skills, and the results of branding vocational skill training, creating a good environment for skill development and promoting the healthy development of training undertakings.

Provincial human resources and social security departments should ensure the coordination of this notice with the special rectification of vocational skill training and evaluation, as well as the current local policies, promoting the transformation of special rectification results. Based on actual conditions, further clarify the responsibilities and tasks of human resources and social security departments at all levels, refine specific implementation measures, and ensure that work is implemented in detail and achieves practical results.