Promoting SDG 4 through CIPP-based evaluation of vocational education training bases

Vocational training bases connect classroom learning with industry practice, but provincial quality reports rarely distinguish the system conditions, resources, implementation processes, and outcomes that shape their contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). This study used a descriptive evaluative case-study design, combining documentary analysis with secondary analysis of the 2023 Guangdong Provincial Higher Vocational Education Quality Report. The unit of analysis was Guangdong’s provincial higher-vocational education system; training-base performance was examined through indicators directly related to practical capacity, financing, staffing, industry participation, curriculum delivery, certification, graduate transitions, and stakeholder outcomes. Of 123 appendix indicators, 121 contained values, and 40 met prespecified relevance, traceability, non-duplication, and interpretability criteria. Absolute, relative, and direction-adjusted changes were calculated for comparable 2022–023 indicators, while conflicting source values were retained rather than averaged. The 2023 profile documented 450 virtual-simulation bases, 216 enterprise co-built practice centers 853 teaching-resource repositories, 19,359 industry mentors, and 109,182 vocational-skill certificate recipients. In the primary trend set, Process indicators had the largest median direction-adjusted change (18.48 %), followed by Input (10.07 %) and Product (1.52 %). The graduate destination rate fell from 98.62 % to 92.16 %, and fiscal appropriation per student declined by 13.23 %. These descriptive results are consistent with a possible mismatch between faster growth in selected capacity and process indicators and slower movement in several outcomes; they do not establish causation. The study provides an auditable CIPP-SDG 4 reporting procedure and identifies the need for utilization, equity, and longitudinal outcome data.