A Comparative Study of STEM Education and Industrial Integration in China, Japan, and South Korea: Policy Lessons for India's National Education Policy 2020

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is unfolding at an unprecedented pace, with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education being at the heart of the national economic agenda, especially in the region of East Asia. This comparative study examines the institutionalisation process of STEM education in the three countries of China, Japan and South Korea, and how this process has been connected to the industrial demand, thereby extracting policy lessons for implementation of India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The aim is to assess the mechanisms of integration of STEM in the three economies and identify transferable models for India. A qualitative comparative-policy design was used, and incorporated OECD Education at a Glance 2025, WIPO Global Innovation Index 2024, NSF NCSES 2024, and PISA 2022 data, along with peer-reviewed scholarship from Springer, Elsevier and Frontiers. The findings reveal that South Korea and Japan incorporate industry linkages in the Meister High School and Society 5.0 framework, respectively, and China's "Made in China 2025" plan added 1,673 industry-related undergraduate courses in 2024 alone. India though creates 34% STEM graduates invest only 0.64% of GDP in R&D, and out of the invested amount, 36% is in private sector. The study states that the NEP 2020 needs to speed up its move towards increase in density of apprentices, more R&D co-financing and convergence curriculum to convert the demographic dividend into industrial competitiveness.

Keywords: STEM Education; Industrial Integration; Comparative Education Policy; NEP 2020; East Asia