An Integrated Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Outcomes of Vocational College Graduates under Ethnic Heterogeneity and Unequal College-Level Resource Allocation

An Integrated Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Outcomes of Vocational College Graduates under Ethnic Heterogeneity and Unequal College-Level Resource Allocation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article An Integrated Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Outcomes of Vocational College Graduates under Ethnic Heterogeneity and Unequal College-Level Resource Allocation Jun Zhou This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647042/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In ethnically diverse regions, sustainable employment and entrepreneurship outcomes for vocational college graduates are constrained by two structural challenges: (i) pronounced heterogeneity across ethnic groups in cultural background, social capital, and development pathways, and (ii) unequal allocation of college-level resources that widens disparities in capability development and opportunity access. Their interaction amplifies outcome heterogeneity and increases the complexity of sustainability-oriented evaluation. To address this, we propose an integrated assessment framework combining Dual-Dimension Enhanced Pattern Rule Recognition (D-DEPRR) and a Factor Contribution Measurement (FCM) model. The framework identifies weakly expressed yet high-contribution factors and quantifies their disturbance effects under heterogeneous ethnic and institutional contexts. Using survey data from 1,979 graduating students at a vocational college in an ethnic minority region of China, we benchmark the proposed approach against LSTM, BPNN, and SVM. Results show consistent improvements in ROC-AUC, PR-AUC, MCC, and Brier score, together with enhanced interpretability for key sustainability drivers. Findings indicate that intrinsic motivation and skill acquisition are core dimensions supporting sustainable outcomes. In addition, low-frequency support-related factors, including ethnically targeted guidance services and unequal access to institutional resources, exert disproportionately large impacts on minority student subgroups. Humanities/Complex networks Social science/Complex networks Social science/Development studies Sustainable employment and entrepreneurship Ethnic minority vocational education Dual-Dimension Enhanced Pattern Rule Recognition (D-DEPRR) Factor Contribution Measurement (FCM) Weakly expressed high-contribution factors Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 16 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 14 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 12 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 12 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 12 Feb, 2026 Editor invited by journal 28 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 26 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 26 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8647042","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":592081282,"identity":"93f6c60d-e846-4105-b4c4-6008a8489257","order_by":0,"name":"Jun Zhou","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAxklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYGBmYIk/nAgQ8/SNPClnhwZg+RNkG18Bgf5mAjRvmM3MOfCyoOMxjcyPlwmIGHQZ5f7AABh83ISzCeceYwg2TP2Q2HCywYDGfOTiCkJccgmbftMAM/e++GwzN4GBIMbhOh5TBICxszz4PDPGzEaTFshtjSw0Cklp43xsw8Z9KBfjlmAAxkCcJ+MWzPMf7MU2ENDLHkxx8+/LCR55cmpKUBQtdDaQn8ykFAnrCSUTAKRsEoGPEAAFejQXXGrYRvAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"XiangXi Vocational and Technical College for Nationalities","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jun","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-20 09:05:03","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647042/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647042/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102876265,"identity":"4082d656-34dd-4dd3-8c08-7f30b63ead4f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-17 19:54:42","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":868578,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"sustainability1.26.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8647042/v1_covered_a117d37c-b5a6-45bd-877c-a31ab5452f19.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"An Integrated Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Outcomes of Vocational College Graduates under Ethnic Heterogeneity and Unequal College-Level Resource Allocation","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Sustainable employment and entrepreneurship, Ethnic minority vocational education, Dual-Dimension Enhanced Pattern Rule Recognition (D-DEPRR), Factor Contribution Measurement (FCM), Weakly expressed high-contribution factors","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647042/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8647042/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn ethnically diverse regions, sustainable employment and entrepreneurship outcomes for vocational college graduates are constrained by two structural challenges: (i) pronounced heterogeneity across ethnic groups in cultural background, social capital, and development pathways, and (ii) unequal allocation of college-level resources that widens disparities in capability development and opportunity access. 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