The structural optimization of higher vocational education is a very complicated system engineering, which involves the structural optimization of higher vocational education itself and the coordination of external environment and internal environment.

1. Coordinated development: the inherent requirement of structural optimization of higher vocational education

The basic elements of higher vocational education are relatively stable, but the contents of each component (such as formal structure and hierarchical structure) change with the changes of China's social and economic development, which is a dynamic development process. Therefore, according to the level and requirements of social and economic development, higher vocational education should formulate feasible and operable development goals within the higher vocational education structure such as teaching structure and management structure, so as to make it develop harmoniously.

According to the characteristics of regional economic structure, industrial structure and technical structure, combined with the advantages of the school, the development focus of the school is defined, and the professional structure is optimized and upgraded. In the process of upgrading the professional structure, we should deal with the relationship between the diversity and variability of social needs and the stability of school education and the availability of school educational resources, so that the professional structure can better meet the requirements of regional economic development and the frontier level of scientific and technological development.

The idea of running a school should reflect the spirit of the times, the characteristics of higher vocational education, teaching characteristics and students' specialties. This requires our school operators to fully implement the idea of quality education, fully embody the concept of lifelong learning, fully embody the principles of individualization and efficiency of education, make overall consideration of the trinity, realize the optimization and scientificity of formal structure, hierarchical structure and layout structure, and make all links within the structure of higher vocational education run in an orderly and efficient manner.

2. All-round adaptation: the goal choice of structural optimization of higher vocational education

Comprehensive adaptation has two connotations: first, the adjustment and promotion of higher vocational education structure should aim at social needs and actively adapt to changes in social structure, economic structure, industrial structure and technical structure; Second, the adjustment and promotion of the structure of higher vocational education should aim at the career development of social citizens and provide opportunities and conditions for every social citizen to continue learning.

The structure of higher vocational education is an open system, which is open to every citizen of society in all directions. Only by opening up in all directions can we achieve the goal of comprehensive adaptation. That is to say, only when higher vocational education is fully open to the social, economic and cultural circles can the structure of higher vocational education adapt to the social system, and the society can provide resources and financial resources to higher vocational education purposefully and in a planned way.

The core of comprehensive adaptation is to accurately grasp the reform trend of higher vocational education. In terms of development strategy, higher vocational education has changed from "occupation" to "industry"; On the development goal, higher vocational education develops from resource-based to demand-based; On the scale of development, it has changed from quantity expansion to quality improvement; In the form of running a school, more attention will be paid to the development of the scale of non-academic education; In personnel training, pay attention to developing students' "invisible knowledge"; In the management mode, from resource management to knowledge management. These major changes are not only the target choice for the structural optimization of higher vocational education, but also the strategic requirements for the future development of higher vocational education.

3. Macro-planning: the guarantee for the structural optimization of higher vocational education.

With the establishment of market economy, higher vocational education has greater authority to run schools independently facing the society, a broader field open to the society, and a greater space to optimize and upgrade the structure of higher vocational education. However, this does not mean that the government can relax the regulation and management of the structural development of higher vocational education. Judging from the current practice of higher vocational education development, the market is indeed blind, and the talent market reflects social needs with two obvious characteristics: first, it is highly volatile; The second is lag. If the development of higher vocational education follows the market feeling, it will inevitably make the adjustment and development of professional structure, hierarchical structure and formal structure of higher vocational education lose its basis and direction. Therefore, the government must strengthen macro-planning, policy guidance, quality control and classified guidance to ensure the development direction of higher vocational education structure.