Anhui Vocational and Technical College is a full-time public college directly under Anhui Provincial Education Department. The college’s predecessor was the Anhui Textile Technology Training Class. In 1958, based on this training class, the Anhui Textile Industry School and Anhui Light Industry School were established as a single entity operating under two names. In 1960, it was upgraded to Anhui Institute of Textile Technology to offer undergraduate education. In 1999, it began to provide higher vocational education and became one of the first batch of higher vocational colleges in Anhui Province approved by the Ministry of Education. In 2003, it was renamed Anhui Vocational and Technical College with the approval of the provincial government. In 2014, it collaborated with Hefei University to offer a four-year  integrated  application-oriented undergraduate education program; since 2021, it has cooperated with Anhui Jianzhu University to offer junior college to bachelor’s degree programs. In 2022, it was included in Anhui Province’s 14th Five-Year Plan for vocational undergraduate college establishment; on August 12, 2024, the People’s Government of Anhui Province formally approved the merger of Hefei Railway Engineering School and Anhui Energy Technology School into Anhui Vocational and Technical College, embarking on a new journey of educational development. The college is a National Model Higher Vocational College, a National High-Quality Specialized Higher Vocational College, one of the first Local Skill-Based High-Level Universities in Anhui Province, a High-Level School Construction Unit of Anhui Province’s Double-High Plan, and a Double-Characteristics School Construction Unit in Anhui Province.

The college adheres to the motto of Unity, Diligence, Rigour, and Truth-Seeking and follows the development orientation of localization, skill-oriented, distinctiveness, and high quality. Closely aligning with the new quality productivity demands of industries, it connects with advanced manufacturing and modern service sectors, establishing 16 secondary colleges and dynamically adjusting its academic program structure. Currently, it offers 55 majors. Through mechanisms such as joint consultation on professional construction, joint formulation of talent training plans, joint organization of dual-qualified faculty teams, joint construction of internship and training bases, joint promotion of curriculum resource development, joint research on service platforms, joint evaluation of training quality, and joint promotion of student employment, it has established 12 modern industry colleges in collaboration with leading enterprises such as BYD.

The college covers a planned area of 2,115 mu (approximately 350 acres), with over 19,000 students. The total building area is 706,500 square meters, the total value of teaching and research equipment reaches 400 million yuan, and the financial investment in the past five years has been RMB1.847 billion yuan. The college has 1,282 faculty members, including 1 national teaching team, 2 nationally recognized distinguished teachers, 15 provincial teaching teams, and 19 provincially recognized distinguished teachers. In the past five years, it has won 2 second prizes of the National Teaching Achievement Award, 4 special prizes of the Provincial Teaching Achievement Award, 33 first, second, and third prizes, 11 first prizes in the National Vocational College Skills Competition, and 675 prizes in competitions at or above the provincial level. The college coordinates the two key initiatives of bringing in and going global to help build a new highland for the opening-up of Anhui vocational education. It is the first vocational college in the province to establish an overseas branch (Xingzhi College - Thailand Campus), the first to export professional standards overseas (the Sino-Thai Modern Vocational Education Cooperation Project 210 ), and the first to enroll international students (Cambodian Electrical Automation major).

In recent years, the college has deeply studied and implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, fully implemented the reform objectives of achieving six new enhancements and being pioneers in six aspects proposed by the provincial government, and actively inherited and practiced Huang Yanpei’s vocational education philosophy under the guidance of the Provincial Party Committee Education Work Committee and the Provincial Department of Education. Adhering to the principles of aligning majors with industries, linking curricula with job roles, attaching equal importance to teachers and technicians, and integrating talent cultivation with moral education, and pursuing specialization, precision, uniqueness, and innovation in majors and diligence, simplicity, courage, and perseverance in student quality, the college has deeply intensified the school-running mode of industry-education integration, blazing a path that resonates with national strategic needs and economic and social development, and laying a solid foundation for its distinctive characteristics.

1. Comprehensive Strengthening of Party Leadership, Solid Spiritual Cultivation

Adhering to the overall leadership of the Party over school work, the college implements the Pilot Program for grassroots Party building and the creation project of Brand Party General Branches and Characteristic Party Branches, builds the Scholarly Party Building brand, and ensures a more solid and robust Party leadership for the high-quality development of the school’s undertakings.

2. Comprehensive Implementation of Virtue-Based Education, Fruitful Talent Cultivation

Upholding the educational philosophy of Small Enterprises in Classrooms, Integrating Theory and Practice; Large Enterprises as Classrooms, Cultivating Morality and Skills, the college innovatively implements the educational model of One Goal, Two Integrations, Three Subjects, and Four Focuses, constructs a Six Vertical and Six Horizontal education framework, and builds the Ten Projects for All-Round Education, cultivating a large number of technical and skilled talents and outstanding graduates favored by enterprises, such as Wang Yuanhan, the Yangtze River Delta Great Artisan, Liu Chong and Li Yunlong, the Self-Improvement Stars of Chinese College Students, and Wang Qian, the Anhui Good Person. In the past three years, the employment rate of graduates has exceeded 97%, and the retention rate in Anhui has exceeded 80%, ranking among the top in the province.

3. Continuous Deepening of Industry-Education Integration, Precise Service for Industrial Development

The college has established and improved a dynamic professional adjustment mechanism, with the matching degree between professional settings and regional key industries exceeding 93%. It serves emerging industries by focusing on building five high-level professional groups such as intelligent manufacturing and strives to create a new energy vehicle professional cluster focusing on the province’s leading industry. The college has established strategic cooperation relationships with 15 local governments, co-built 12 industry colleges with leading enterprises like BYD, took the lead in establishing the National Smart Environmental Testing Industry-Education Integration Community, participated in 14 national industry-education integration communities, and served over 600 enterprises. In the past five years, it has won 3 Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards.

4. Continuous Enhancement of Team Building, Remarkable Achievements in Talent Recruitment and Cultivation

Adhering to the principle that strong teachers precede strong education, the college always places the construction of teacher ethics and style at the forefront, making comprehensive efforts in introducing high-level talents, building part-time and full-time teacher teams, and teacher development support. It has initially established a high-level double-teacher team with noble ethics, sufficient quantity, reasonable structure, part-time and full-time combination, superb skills, and international vision. In the past three years, it has introduced 209 talents, including 55 doctors.

5. Continuous Sublimation of Cultural Connotation, Upgrading of Campus Quality

Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, focusing on the positioning of vocational education types and the needs of modern university governance, the college has created cultural brands such as the Party Building Reading Club, established cultural education venues like the Anhui Culture Education Practice Base, carried out characteristic cultural activities such as Great Artisans Entering Campuses, and created a Six-in-One Anzhi cultural education model, completing a magnificent transformation from campus culture to a cultural campus. In 2024, the college’s cultural education model reform practice won the Special Prize of the Provincial Teaching Achievement Award.

To implement the strategic deployments of the Party and the country and closely align with regional industrial development needs, the college has formulated a medium and long-term development plan based on its actual conditions, planning to achieve its goals in a three-phase strategy:

First step: By 2029, meet the teaching quality assessment standards for undergraduate-level vocational schools, obtain the right to grant bachelor’s degrees, and build into an undergraduate-level vocational and technical university that leads the reform of talent cultivation in Anhui’s higher vocational education, supports the development of Anhui’s emerging industries, and achieves remarkable international exchange and cooperation.

Second step: By 2035, build into a first-class regional vocational and technical university with national influence and a high-level vocational school with Chinese characteristics, becoming a model for vocational colleges to promote the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent.

Third step: By 2050, build into a first-class domestic and internationally influential high-level vocational and technical university.

The college has won 662 awards in national and provincial vocational skills competitions, including 9 first places and 2 second places in the provincial vocational skills competition for 14 consecutive sessions. It has successively been awarded more than 80 honorary titles, including National Model Higher Vocational College, National High-Quality Specialized Higher Vocational College, National Advanced Unit in Vocational Education, Anhui Provincial Local Skill-Based High-Level University Construction Institution, Provincial Civilized Unit, and Provincial Civilized Campus. In 2018, it was ranked among the top 50 in teaching resources and service contributions among higher vocational colleges; in 2019, it was awarded the Provincial High-Vocational Development Benchmark School, Skills Competition Benchmark School, and Physical Education and Art Reform Benchmark School. In 2022, it ranked 26th among China’s top 50 higher vocational colleges, 18th in influence, and 14th in school-enterprise cooperation.

Looking back, the college has cultivated 200,000 high-skilled talents for the motherland; looking forward, it will maintain a proactive stance of Anzhi’s Commitment to Education Power, focus on new goals, adopt new concepts, implement new measures, and strive to create a national first-class and internationally influential high-level vocational and technical university through high-level talent output, high-quality scientific research achievements, high-quality social services, high-level cultural inheritance, and high-start international cooperation, creating more new achievements and demonstrating greater core responsibility in serving regional industries and economic and social development.