The Culture Of Technological Innovation: Ecological Basis For Cultivating The Core Competency Of Higher Vocational Colleges

Competition in today’s world has become increasingly fierce. Especially, as higher education institutions are moving away from the marginal fringes of society and coming towards the centre of society, the economic-based competition has gradually shifted to the talent-based competition, which makes the fresh and higher demands on the development of higher education institutions. Although the higher vocational education, as part of higher education, has developed rapidly over the past ten years, it is currently put under such pressures as the gradually shrinking of the overall source of domestic school enrolment, regular higher education institutions’ transition to cultivating applied talents, overseas higher institutions’ contention for the source of school enrolment, graduates’occupancy of the job markets and so on. Therefore, in order to survive and develop, higher vocational colleges must foster and enhance their core competencies. From a perspective of cultural ecology and culture of technological innovation, the present research seeks to investigate the cultivation and promotion of the core competency of higher vocational colleges. By applying the documentary method, comparative method, survey method and logic analysis method to exploring the relation between the culture of technological innovation and the core competency of higher vocational colleges, we discover the major problems and reasons after reviewing the ecological basis for the culture of technological innovation in cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges in China. Eventually, it concludes that the culture of technological innovation is ecological basis for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges.The present dissertation consists of seven chapters. The first chapter serves as an introduction to this investigation. Based on the current social background "the world of competitiveness" and the analysis of competition between higher institutions at home and abroad, the issues and significance of the research will be presented. Then in the literature review are the rationale, contents and approaches, and especially what is something new involved, i.e. the study on the relation between the core competency of higher vocational colleges and the culture of technological innovation. A new viewpoint "the culture of technological innovation is the basis for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges" is proposed. It also offers countermeasures corresponding to the reality of our country for promoting the culture of technological innovation in cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges.Chapter Two provides a theoretical background for this study, including such basic concepts and notions as the core competency of higher vocational colleges, cultural ecology, the culture of technological innovation and their implications as well. First, it gives a brief introduction of implications and characteristics of higher vocational education, then the notion, characteristics and construction of core competency; next, the connotation and features of cultural ecology and that of the culture of technological innovation as well. This dissertation argues that higher vocational education is certain to be part of higher education and just a type of it. Meanwhile, higher vocational education is also vocational and technical education, but the higher stage of it. Higher vocational education undertakes the mission of fostering the highly-skilled personnel for the need in the first line of production, construction, serving and administration. It is characterized by the following two aspects:first, higher vocational education mainly fits into the category of technological culture and quite obviously is of this feature; second, higher vocational education mainly aims to foster highly-skilled personnel. The core competency of higher vocational colleges refers to the most important, crucial and essential competency of all, which can help colleges or universities to maintain permanent and stable competitive advantages. This core competency mainly includes the competency of personal training and the competency of science and technology. Its features are mainly characterized by value, irreplaceability, long-term, scalability, unifying and intellectuality, etc.. With regard to cultural ecology, it is actually concerned with the circumstances of each sub-culture system constituting the culture as a whole, and the relations between each sub-culture system and the relation between each sub-culture system and the circumstances the systems are involved in. It has these features:contemporary, systematic, permeable and controllable. The culture of technological innovation means the innovative products created in the practice of technological innovation and the established rules and regulations, which is the sum of all kinds of innovative cognition and notion formed in the technological innovation activities. It is primarily featured by technology utility, open space and time, humanity creativity, etc.. These preliminary understandings help to well prepare for developing the forthcoming investigation.Chapter Three explores the relation between the culture of technological innovation and the core competency of higher vocational colleges. Specifically, by analyzing the relation between the cultural ecology and the core competency of higher vocational colleges and the standpoint "the culture of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges is the ecological basis for cultivating its own core competency", it illuminates the relation between the culture of technological innovation and the core competency of higher vocational colleges. As to the relation between the cultural ecology and the core competency of higher vocational colleges, it is proposed that the cultural ecology is indispensable ecology for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges, the cultural force is a significant part of the core group of the core competency of higher vocational colleges, and the cultural harmony of higher vocational colleges is the most favorable condition of cultural ecology for cultivating the core competency. Meanwhile, we propose that the core competency of higher vocational colleges is considered significant to the development of the cultural ecology of higher vocational colleges and plays a certain role in it. In respect of discussion on "the culture of technological innovation is ecological basis for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges", it is advocated that the culture of technological innovation is not only the "soil" for promoting the fostering force of highly-skilled personnel of higher vocational colleges, but also the ecological premise of their technological research and development capabilities.Chapter Four, we examine the current ecological situation of the culture of technological innovation of cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges. Analyzing this situation, this chapter seeks out the advantages and disadvantages of the cultural ecology of technological innovation for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges in China. In particular, above all, we conduct a review of the cultural ecology of technological innovation for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges, and thereafter search out the major problems:(a) The problem is disequilibrium of ecology of campus culture. This disequilibrium is mainly manifested in the following:First, there exist contradictions in choosing cultural values. During the process of cultivating the competency of personal training, there exist apparent contradictions between material culture and spiritual culture, scientism and humanism, instrumentalism of technological culture and idealism, technological culture and scientific culture, all of which cause the ecological disequilibrium of campus culture in higher vocational colleges. Second, it is about the problem of the cultural and ecological deterioration in higher vocational education systems. During the process of cultivating the competency of personal training, the cultural and ecological deterioration in higher vocational education systems is mainly reflected in such aspects, i.e. imperfect system of higher vocational education levels, lack of system of personnel training model and the fact that no excellent mechanisms have been recognized for competition, incentives and evaluation in scientific research and technological innovation, etc.. The third point pertains to the lack of characteristics of ecological types of material culture in higher vocational colleges. In recent years, rapid progress has been made in physical environment construction in campus of higher vocational colleges in our country and many new and modern campus have been built. Nevertheless, there are no differences between most of these new campus of higher vocational colleges and that of other colleges and universities without any ecological features of technological culture of higher vocational colleges in that basically, no characteristics of higher vocational education are taken into consideration. (b) The innovative culture is proved to be weak. Currently, there exist many problems in the cultural ecology of cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges, but mainly on the ecological basis. It is the very weakness of the culture of technological innovation more than others. In respect of this view, the first thing is deviation of orientation of value of the technological innovation subject in higher vocational colleges. To be more specific, that deviation refers to deviation of orientation of vocational education, stereotyped way of thinking, ideas and notions in vocational education. Secondly, the accumulation of the culture of technological innovation is not sufficient. During the process of cultivating the core competency of science and technology, there exist such problems in the cultural ecology of higher vocational colleges as weakness of academic foundation, lack of technical originality, etc.. Thirdly, higher vocational colleges emphasize technical instructions but neglect the research and development of technology.Chapter Five discusses how to build the theoretical foundations for reconstructing the cultural ecology for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges. This discussion mainly touches upon the three aspects, i.e. updating the ideas and concepts, the orientation of value and basic principles of reconstructing the cultural ecology for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges. In light of updating the ideas and concepts of reconstructing the cultural ecology for cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges, it is explicitly proposed that we are required to update traditional ideology of technology and uphold unity of technological culture and new humanism. With respect to second issue, i.e. the orientation of value, it points out that pinpointing values depends on enhancing the core cultivation force and the core research and development force of technological innovation. As regards the third point, we advocate four principles, i.e. stick to the principle of technological education, the principle of harmony and integration, the principle of combining the inheriting with developing and the principle of integrating technological innovation and technological ethics.Chapter Six investigates the countermeasures for enhancing the culture of technological innovation in cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges in our country. Through discussion, such approaches to enhancing the culture of technological innovation are specified as follows:First, to arouse awareness of the subject of culture of technological innovation in higher vocational colleges. The second approach is to reconstruct the ecology of spiritual culture of higher vocational colleges. The third is to strengthen the construction of harmonious technological innovation team in higher vocational colleges. The fourth approach focuses on improving the ecological environment of technological innovation culture in higher vocational colleges. The fifth deals with how to cultivate favorable cultural ecology for the geographical culture of higher vocational colleges. The six approach is to attach importance to condensing the characteristics of technological innovation culture in higher vocational colleges. Evidently, without cultural awareness and consciousness, hardly is it possible to promote the technological innovation culture of cultivation of the core competency of higher vocational colleges. For this reason, we argue that the most important thing we are required to do is to fully understand the status and role that the culture of technological innovation enjoys and plays, strengthen the ecological construction of technological innovation culture, arouse the awareness of the culture of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges. In respect that the spirit of colleges is the soul of the culture of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges, it is suggested that to reconstruct the college spirit of higher vocational colleges is required to take the notion of technological innovation as the core, the technological spirit as the key, the school mottoes as the carrier and the culture and traditions as the base. The cultural ecology of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges inherently requires their technological innovation team to move forward harmony continously, nothing but the harmonious team have greater force of cultivating highly-skilled, innovative personnel and of technological research and development. Therefore, higher vocational colleges are suggested to build full-time teachers on high theoretical level and part-time teachers with exceptional hands-on ability so as to establish their harmonious team of technological innovation by means of centrally planning construction of full-time and part-time teachers. The cultural environment of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges is of great importance to promoting the culture of technological innovation in cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges. In view of this point, we claim that in constructing favorable ecological environment of technological innovation culture for higher vocational colleges, the key is to improve the cultural ecology of rules and regulations and reconstruct the ecology of physical culture of higher vocational colleges, and above all, to cultivate the technical originality of higher vocational colleges by creating an atmosphere of academic freedom and tolerance to failure. Moreover, issues of external environment also have to be taken into account. The reason is that the cultural ecology of technological innovation not only needs equilibrium and harmony between ecology of various culture within campus but also equilibrium and harmony between ecology of various culture within campus and that outside campus. Therefore, to cultivate favorable geo-cultural ecology of higher vocational colleges is the inevitable choice. In doing so, it is necessary to exploit ecological factors of traditional culture in the geo-cultural ecology, and stress "the integration of producing, studying and researching " with the aim of achieving overall equilibrium and harmony of the cultural ecology of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges. Distinctive features are the direction that the culture of technological innovation pursue and move forward, which is far more significant to enhance the level of the culture of technological innovation of higher vocational colleges. Many factors are involved in condensing characteristics of technological culture innovation of higher vocational colleges. However, we hold that the most important thing is to highlight the characteristics of higher vocational education, carry forward culture and traditions, and exploit regional culture resources.Chapter Seven concludes this dissertation by summarizing the major findings of the study. The conclusion reveals that the culture of technological innovation is ecological basis for the cultivation of the core competency of higher vocational colleges. In the meanwhile, we put forward the corresponding countermeasures for enhancing the culture of technological innovation in cultivating the core competency of higher vocational colleges.