Complex connectivities: Policy networks, data infrastructures and vocational education reform in China

In this paper, we draw upon the example of the Guangdong Mechanical and Electrical Vocational Education (GMEVE) alliance in Guangdong Province, China, and the recognition of these qualifications through the Guangdong Lifelong Education 'Credit Bank', to reveal how the Vocational Education (VE) sector in China is influenced by a complex interweaving of policy actors working across various industry 'alliances', and related government and associated bodies. The article reveals the interplay between these actors as a new form of policy network involving a more variegated conception of private-public engagement than typically described in western, and other developing country contexts, and involving connections with data infrastructures that are only just emerging as key to delivery of VE within such alliances in China.