Education in China

This article is about education in mainland China. For Hong Kong, see Education in Hong Kong. For Macau, see Education in Macau. For Republic of China(Taiwan), see Education in Taiwan.

Education in China
Ministry of Education
Minister of EducationHuai Jinpeng
National education budget (2022)
BudgetCN¥6.13 trillion (2022)[1]
General details
Primary languagesMandarin
System typeNational (in most parts)
Literacy (2015[2])
Total96.7%
Male98.2%
Female94.5%
Enrollment (2020 [3])
Total250.5 million
Primary107.5 million
Secondary90.8 million1
Post secondary52.2 million
Attainment (2020 census [4])
Secondary diploma81%2
Post-secondary diploma19%3
1 Including junior and senior secondary students;
2 Among 25-64 year-olds, including junior and senior secondary attainments;
3 Among 25-64 year-olds, including associate, bachelor and graduate degrees.
Students in Tieling

Education in China is primarily managed by the state-run public education system, which falls under the Ministry of Education. All citizens must attend school for a minimum of nine years, known as nine-year compulsory education, which is funded by the government.

Compulsory education includes six years of elementary school, typically starting at the age of six and finishing at the age of twelve,[5] followed by three years of middle school and three years of high school.

In 2020, the Ministry of Education reported an increase of new entrants of 34.4 million students entering compulsory education, bringing the total number of students who attend compulsory education to 156 million.[6]

In 1985, the government abolished tax-funded higher education, requiring university applicants to compete for scholarships based on their academic capabilities. In the early 1980s, the government allowed the establishment of the first private institution of higher learning, thus increasing the number of undergraduates and people who hold doctoral degrees from 1995 to 2005.[7]

Chinese investment in research and development has grown by 20 percent per year since 1999, exceeding $100 billion in 2011. As many as 1.5 million science and engineering students graduated from Chinese universities in 2006. By 2008, China had published 184,080 papers in recognized international journals – a seven-fold increase from 1996.[8] In 2017, China surpassed the U.S. with the highest number of scientific publications.[9][10] In 2021, there were 3,012 universities and colleges (see List of universities in China) in China,[11] and 147 National Key Universities, which are considered to be part of an elite group Double First Class universities, accounted for approximately 4.6% of all higher education institutions in China.[12]

China has also been a top destination for international students and as of 2013, China was the most popular country in Asia for international students and ranked third overall among countries.[13] China is now the leading destination globally for Anglophone African students[14] and is host of the second largest international students population in the world.[15] There were 17 Chinese universities on lists of the global top 200 behind only the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of the overall representation in the 2023 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities, a composite ranking system combining three of the world's most influential university rankings (ARWU+QS+ THE).[16]

Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu and Zhejiang outperformed all other education systems in the Programme for International Student Assessment.[17] China's educational system has been noted for its emphasis on rote memorization and test preparation. However, PISA spokesman Andreas Schleicher says that China has moved away from learning by rote in recent years.[18] According to Schleicher, Russia performs well in rote-based assessments, but not in PISA, whereas China does well in both rote-based and broader assessments.[19]

  1. ^ "MOE releases 2022 Statistical Bulletin on Educational Spending". 3 July 2023. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  2. ^ "The World Factbook". Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  3. ^ National Bureau of Statistics of China. "Table 21-2 Number of Students of Formal Education by Type and Level". China Statistical Yearbook 2021. Archived from the original on 25 November 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  4. ^ National Bureau of Statistics of China. "Table 2-25 Population Aged 6 and over by Age, Gender and Education Attainment". China Statistical Yearbook 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022. (Overall population aged between 25 and 64 years is 818 million. Population with secondary only is 507.7 million; with post-degrees is 155.7 million.)
  5. ^ "A brief introduction to the Chinese education system". OpenLearn. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Major educational achievements in China in 2020 - Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China". en.moe.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  7. ^ "China's Book in Higher Education" Archived 29 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine graphic in The New York Times based on information from China's Ministry of Education, 28 April 2005.
  8. ^ Su, Xiaohuan (28 March 2011), China 'to overtake US on science' in two years, BBC World News, ISBN 978-7-80113-993-1, archived from the original on 13 August 2018, retrieved 21 June 2018
  9. ^ Tollefson, Jeff. "China Declared World's Largest Producer of Scientific Articles". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  10. ^ Tollefson, Jeff (18 January 2018). "China declared world's largest producer of scientific articles". Nature. 553 (7689): 390. Bibcode:2018Natur.553..390T. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-00927-4.
  11. ^ "全国高等学校名单 - 中华人民共和国教育部政府门户网站". www.moe.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  12. ^ "China to further promote the Double First-Class Initiative - Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China". Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  13. ^ Sheehy, Kelsey (8 October 2013). "Explore the World's Top Universities". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2017. Asia is among the fastest growing destinations for international students, and foreign enrollment at universities in Indonesia and South Korea have more than doubled since 2005, the agency reports. China continues to be the most popular destination in the region, though, ranking third among countries that host the most international students, IIE reports.
  14. ^ "China tops US and UK as destination for anglophone African students". Victoria Breeze, The Conversation. 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  15. ^ "China's 2020 target: reshaping global mobility flows". EAIE. 27 January 2020. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Country Analysis | Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities 2023". research.unsw.edu.au. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  17. ^ "PISA 2018: Insights and interpretations" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  18. ^ Mance, Henry (7 December 2010), "Why are Chinese schoolkids so good?", Financial Times, archived from the original on 15 July 2016, retrieved 28 June 2012
  19. ^ Cook, Chris (7 December 2010), "Shanghai tops global state school rankings", Financial Times, archived from the original on 10 December 2022, retrieved 28 June 2012