People enjoy outdoor barbecue at Dongting Yuge Town in Yueyang, Hunan province, on May 22, 2025. [Photo provided to CHINA DAILY]

　　From barbecuing, making spicy snail noodles and improving the professional skills of delivery riders, China"s vocational colleges are undergoing major changes to meet new job demands.

　　The niche study areas highlight a major overhaul of the world"s largest vocational training system to better align employees" skills with the requirements of industry and local economies.

　　Xu Shuai, 25, is one of those planning to improve his job skills and future employability. For two years, he worked in the restaurant industry in Changsha, Hunan province, focusing on marketing and building his customer base.

　　But his career soon hit a ceiling. "Without control over the product itself, growth is hard to sustain," he said.

　　To close that gap, Xu plans to enroll in Yueyang Barbecue College later this year. What draws him to the college is not just mastering grilling, but the promise of comprehensive training — from supply chain management and cost control to branding and customer experience.

　　"This is more than teaching students how to grill," said Qiao Binbin, secretary-general of the Yueyang Barbecue Association, one of the major operators of this college. "We aim to train students to understand the entire business ecosystem."

　　In Yueyang, the barbecue industry is a pillar of the local economy with more than 2,000 outlets and an annual output exceeding 2 billion yuan ($293.4 million), data from the association showed.