Recently, the news of "the first barbecue academy in China recruiting students and receiving hot registration inquiries" has attracted widespread attention. This school focuses on the vocational education track, reflecting a new approach to the transformation of China's employment structure - undergraduate students' "skills returning to the furnace", "new blue collar" represented by vocational college graduates counterattacking the job market, "micro majors" filling the skills gap, and the composite vocational education training model being revitalized and upgraded... The trend of "only education" is cooling down, and the pragmatic employment concept is being reshaped. Recently, 61 college graduates from Deyang Installation Technician College in 2026 chose to "recycle and rebuild" to deepen their skills in the field. In the spring semester of 2026, Sichuan Deyang Installation Technician College welcomed a special group of new students -61 college graduates voluntarily put aside their undergraduate glory and chose to "go back to the furnace" vocational education, and 52 people were successfully selected for the state-owned enterprise order class. A student said, "After graduating from college, I repeatedly encountered obstacles in my job search, only to realize that I only have a degree but lack solid practical skills, making it difficult to match the job requirements of the company." After strict interview screening, the student successfully entered the college and embarked on the path of skill improvement. According to reports, by 2025, more than 30 students holding undergraduate and vocational diplomas from Xuzhou Engineering Machinery Technician College will "return to the furnace" and concentrate on studying intelligent manufacturing related majors; The college technician class of Qingdao Technician College has performed exceptionally well. In the autumn semester of 2025, its full-time enrollment exceeded 240 students, setting a new historical high. The shift of young people from being "educated" to "skilled" is not only a rational plan for their own career development, but also reflects the pragmatic and enterprising employment concept of young people in the new era. According to the "China World Higher Education Trends Report (2026)" released by Michelson Research Institute, the previous single path of competition strategy based on academic qualifications is being broken. The graduation destinations of undergraduate students have undergone a transformation, gradually forming two major trends: first, the expectation of further education benefits has decreased; Secondly, there is a greater emphasis on "technology recycling" that directly caters to employment needs, in order to learn practical skills and vocational expertise. On December 19, 2025, contestants participating in the 14th Skill Culture Festival of Rizhao Technician College were competing in the CNC milling project. Xinhua News Agency's image by Li Dawei shows that the upgrading of the industry has given birth to "new blue collar workers", and the incubation of intelligent manufacturing talents in vocational colleges has returned to the era of "hot cakes". Behind this is the overall layout of the national industrial strategic transformation. Currently, China is making every effort to promote industrial transformation and upgrading. As the main battlefield for cultivating high skilled talents, graduates from vocational colleges are becoming an important source to fill the gap of frontline skilled talents. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of ordinary college graduates in China has increased from 3.298 million in 2016 to 5.404 million in 2024, and is expected to reach a new historical high in 2026. The transformation of industrial intelligence will bring about a profound shift in the employment flow of the new force that is about to enter the job market. The "2025 Report on Employment of Chinese Vocational College Students" also draws the same conclusion: as the manufacturing industry undergoes an overall intelligent upgrade and the demand for high skilled talents increases, the proportion of fresh vocational college graduates entering the equipment manufacturing industry for employment has been increasing year by year, from 10.1% in the class of 2020 to 13.1% in the class of 2024. Among them, the proportion of emerging technology positions such as intelligent manufacturing engineering technicians and industrial robot operation and maintenance has increased from 3.2% to 4.3%. These young people who are active in the forefront of intelligent manufacturing are vividly referred to as the "new blue collar", and they are the concrete manifestation of high skilled talents serving the upgrading of the industry. At the same time, the changes in salaries for "new blue collar" workers have become another example of the market's recognition of high-quality skilled talents. The data shows that the average monthly salary of fresh vocational college graduates has increased from 4253 yuan in 2020 to 4775 yuan in 2024. The salaries of train drivers, railway signal operators, industrial engineering technicians, and other professions all exceed the average salary of graduates from local undergraduate colleges in the same year. Numerical control programmers have entered the top 10 high paying professions in vocational colleges for the first time. The students of the "Gaoling Automotive Craftsman" training class are studying the principles of automotive circuit systems. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yanan provides pictures of the great country's craftsmen helping to promote high-quality development. Policies have opened up a pathway for "craftsmen" to rise, from the "education+skills" training of Yueyang Barbecue College to the "re cooking" of 61 college students in Deyang, Sichuan; From the rising salaries of vocational college students and the increasing attractiveness of intelligent manufacturing positions, to undergraduate graduates actively entering technical schools to fill their skill gaps... These phenomena indicate that the practical value of skills and the ability to adapt to positions in the job market are surpassing a single educational label and becoming key indicators for measuring individual competitiveness. The 2026 government work report emphasizes the need to promote the cultivation of outstanding engineers, national craftsmen and other high-level talents, and to advance the construction of talent highlands and platforms with high standards. Continuously carry out large-scale vocational skill improvement training to enable more workers to possess a specific skill and better achieve employment and income growth. The introduction of more favorable policies is also promoting the rapid growth of craftsmen in major countries. In 2025, the Ministry of Education issued a notice to deploy and implement the "Double Thousand" plan to enhance the employment ability of college students, promoting the establishment of 1000 "micro majors" (or professional course groups) and 1000 vocational ability training courses nationwide. In this context, multiple universities have taken the lead and launched a batch of "micro majors" one after another, aiming to reconstruct students' knowledge and skill structure and more accurately meet the practical needs of enterprises for talents. With the deepening implementation of the strategic deployment of "promoting the development of education technology talents as a whole" in the 15th Five Year Plan, and the continuous promotion of industrial intelligent transformation, the "new blue collar" group is expected to usher in a broader career development space. When the stove is connected to the podium and craftsmanship becomes a profession, and when education and skills truly achieve a two-way connection, a more diverse and pragmatic era of talent evaluation is coming. (New Society)