Chinese Academic Landscape
Based on information from the Ministry of Education China, till June 30th 2020, there are 3005 registered higher education institutions in Mainland China, which embrace 1272 Universities offering four-year bachelor programs, 1468 colleges for two- or three-year vocational education and 265 institutions for adult education.
The criteria of the university’s quality:
- Project 211: is the Chinese government's new endeavor aimed at strengthening about 100 institutions of higher education and key disciplinary areas as a national priority for the 21st century. There are 112 universities in the project 211.
- 985 Projects: is a constructive project for founding world-class universities in the 21st century conducted by the government of the People’s Republic of China. On May 4, 1998, President Jiang Zemin declared that “China must have a number of first-rate universities of international advanced level”, so Project 985 was launched. In the initial phase, 9 universities were included in the project. The second phase, launched in 2004, expanded the program until it reached 39 universities.
- „Double First Class“: the decision on this initiative was made on August 18th 2015. The goal is “a number of universities and disciplines are developed into world-class ones, a number of disciplines are in the leading position among world-class disciplines. The number and capability of first-class universities and disciplines ranks among the best in the world and makes China an international higher education power.
On September 21st, 2019, The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly released a selected list of 137 universities and colleges, which will participate in the country’s construction plan of world-class universities and first-class disciplines. 42 universities will be developed into first-class educational institutions, and 95 universities will focus on building their preponderant disciplines into first-rate ones.