Educational management: analysis of the role of educational management in the integration of industry and education in vocational education

Abstract

Vocational education now occupies a pivotal position in national skill-formation agendas, yet persistent misalignment between training provision and labour-market demand continues to impede economic productivity. This study interrogates the managerial determinants of successful industry – education integration by analysing 127 vocational institutions distributed across nine economies that span liberal, coordinated and hybrid skill formation regimes. Deploying a sequential mixed-methods design, we triangulate quantitative performance indicators with qualitative evidence emanating from 429 in-depth stakeholder interviews and extensive documentary analysis. Institutions that operated matrix structures marrying academic departments with industry facing divisions outperformed traditionally hierarchical peers by an average margin of 53,7% on a composite integration index. Transformational, boundary-spanning leadership surfaced as the single most potent predictor of success, elevating integration effectiveness by 64,8% relative to transactional styles. Participatory strategic planning routines embedding structured industry feedback achieved 41,3% higher implementation rates, while balanced performance-measurement frameworks correlated robustly with sustainable outcomes (r = 0.67, p 0.001). Multivariate modelling identified staff integration capability (β = 0.34), change-management dexterity (β = 0.27) and partner-engagement intensity (β = 0.23) as decisive implementation levers. Crucially, institutional size modulated optimal design choices: smaller colleges thrived on relational capital and flexible governance, whereas larger campuses derived greater benefit from formalised systems and resource depth. The article distils these insights into an actionable framework that allows vocational-education leaders and policy architects to recalibrate management practice in pursuit of tighter industry coupling.