Students attend a cooking class at Lanxiang Vocational School in Shandong Province. Photo: CFP

Su Beichuan, 19, seldom says where he graduated from.

His alma mater, Lanxiang Vocational School, first made a name for itself three years ago, after Western media implicated its involvement in a string of cyber attacks on Google e-mail accounts. Chinese authorities have not confirmed the attacks.

It recently made news when a dispute between the school's founding members resulted in a group of students traveling from its campus in Shandong Province to assault the father-in-law of the school's president in neighboring Henan Province. 

"It is not as wonderful as most people think. But at least I've gained the basic skills to make a living after my two years there. That is good enough for me," Su told the Global Times.

Su graduated from Lanxiang last year as a certified hairdresser. He earns about 2,000 yuan ($320) a month, a far cry from the high incomes the school promises in its recruitment ads.

His two-year program at Lanxiang cost him nearly 30,000 yuan.

"Your child will be able to work in management as a senior technician after taking our two-year program. We guarantee that all our students master the necessary skills," a teacher surnamed Zhang from Lanxiang told a Global Times reporter posing as a parent.

Zhang similarly boasted about the school's other majors, including hairdressing. "We offer one month of study for free. Students can change their major afterwards. We have cultivated more than 400,000 students over the past 30 years. We can be trusted."

As one of the most recognized vocational schools in China, Lanxiang may have been trusted by many parents and students, but it has yet failed to make up for the weakness in vocational education in China.

Job guarantee 

Lanxiang Vocational School is widely recognized not for its programs, mind you, but rather its ubiquitous ad campaigns splashed on TV channels across the country. 

In contrast with the depressed job market for undergraduate and even postgraduate students, the school's promised 100-percent job placement and monthly pay in the tens of thousands have propelled Lanxiang into legendary status among job-seekers. 

The school's "guaranteed employment" claims are based in its direct relationship with preferred companies. Rong Lanxiang, the school's founder and president, has repeatedly boasted in media reports that his employers pay students up to 3,000 yuan for the three months before graduation to lock their employment.

According to Zhang, students can choose from a list of preferred employers upon graduation, with whom Lanxiang then negotiates both contract and salary on their behalf.

"I didn't sign a contract with the school. It is easy to find a job as a hairdresser and I don't want to work in one place for a long time. The contract means less freedom," said Su.

Several other Lanxiang graduates reached by the Global Times also shrugged off the school's promises of high income. One year after graduation, their "senior technician" title barely demands a salary of around 3,000 yuan per month.

While all agreed that they were not expecting a high salary right after graduation, most expressed disappointment over the school's guarantee the student produces "masters." "I can only say I know how to operate an excavator now, far from mastering it. I was told that I could just look for a job at a working site and be employed as an apprentice on the pay. In all, do not trust the school," noted an anonymous Lanxiang student, who graduated this year.

"Lanxiang is just churning out automatons for factories instead of skilled workers that are in demand in the job market. There is barely any leadership education involved, let alone innovations. As automatons, you can be easily replaced by others with a bit of on-the-job training," Liu noted.

Slacker's choice

"I don't want to go to a university, so I chose to study at a vocational school in Beijing. I've been thinking about getting a bachelor's degree now though. I don't need it to better my skills, but it can make my resume look better," said Bai Yunfeng, a 30-year-old video editor in Beijing.

Liu Guangming, dean of a vocational school in Henan Province, told the Global Times that most students chose vocational schools simply because they could not get into a "normal school."

"There is no separate entrance examination for vocational schools. Because most students have to take college or high school entrance exams, it leaves the impression that vocational schools are filled with 'inferior students.'"

This impression has been reinforced by the sub-par curriculums offered at most vocational schools due to a lack of government financial support, according to Liu.

"Students choose vocational schools because they don't want to study in a high school-like environment. What we offer are specialized skills," Zhang explained, adding that students study six days a week under video surveillance.

New path

More than 29 million students are currently enrolled in over 136,000 vocational schools across China. Vocational schools take in 10 million students every year, and junior vocational schools are capable of absorbing some 44 percent of all high school graduates, reported the Xinhua News Agency.

"Vocational education has become a key measure to ease the structural contradictions in employment and upgrade the ability of job employment and innovation," said Wang Yangnan, an official with the Ministry of Education, at a Friday conference.

According to Wang, about 15 billion yuan has been appropriated by the central government to support vocational education since 2011. He also vowed that the MOE will work to issue and implement related laws and regulations as well as deepen cooperation between vocational schools and enterprises, Xinhua reported.

Liu noted the increased attention on vocational education, as government funding has doubled over the past several years.

"It is crucial for enterprises to participate in vocational education, as few are willing to invest for fear that skilled workers would leave their companies. They should be held legally responsible.

"But it will take a much longer time to change public opinion on vocational education in China. With counterfeit and shoddy products continuing to flood the market, it is understandably hard for people to respect our vocational school graduates," said Liu.