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The Cultivation Mechanism and Pathway of Embedding Skills Competitions in Discipline-Based Student Organizations: A Case Study of Shenzhen Polytechnic University

Author(s)

Yan Mu

Affiliation(s)

School of Marxism, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Abstract

Skills competitions are a major lever for talent cultivation in vocational colleges, and discipline-based student organizations are the primary site where competitors are selected and nurtured. How competitions are converted into systematic cultivation through organizational mechanisms nevertheless remains underexplained. This study takes the student organizations of one college at Shenzhen Polytechnic University as a case. It examines how competitions enter the routine operations of an organization and how student competence develops in the process. Competitions become embedded in organizational operations through three loops. The resource loop supplies industry projects and technical input. The process loop gives progressive selection and dual mentoring a stable footing. The outcome loop converts competition results into patents, ventures, and certifications. The three loops depend on one another, and the breakdown of any one of them weakens the output of the cultivation chain. Supported by this mechanism, student competence moves through three stages, from technical entry, through competition participation, to value creation. Each transition requires both a stronger challenge and a matching condition of support. Accessible training matters at the first stage, timely mentoring at moments of cognitive conflict at the second, and available channels for converting outcomes at the third. Embedding competitions in student organizations therefore means upgrading learning through competition from an occasional activity into a systematic cultivation design. What transfers across contexts is not the level of competition or the scale of investment but the construction of two conditions, namely an escalating challenge and matching support.

Keywords

Skills Competitions; Discipline-Based Student Organizations; Competition Embeddedness; Competence Progression; Vocational Colleges

References

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