Higher education in China

rdf:langString Higher education in China

rdf:langString Higher education in China is the largest in the world. By the end of 2021, there were over 3,000 colleges and universities, with over 44.3 million students enrolled in mainland China and 240 million Chinese citizens having received high education. The system includes Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees, as well as non-degree programs, and is also open to foreign students. The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is the government authority for all matters pertaining to education and language. The ministry notes that higher education in China has played a significant part in economic growth, scientific progress and social development in the country "by bringing up large scale of advanced talents and experts for the construction of socialist modernization." China is also a major destination for international students, being the most popular country in Asia for international students, the leading destination globally for Anglophone African students, and the second most popular in the world. In 2017, China surpassed the U.S. with the highest number of scientific publications. The country has the world's second highest number of universities in the U.S News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings. In the 2021 CWTS Leiden Ranking edition, China had the largest number of universities (221) included in the ranking. China has dominated the QS BRICS University Rankings and the THE's Emerging Economies University Rankings, claiming seven of the top 10 spots for both rankings. China is also the most-represented nation overall. Regardless of various rankings of the Chinese universities, the Ministry of Education of China does not advocate, support or recognize any ranking published by other institutions. There are 13 statutory types of bachelor's degrees in China: Bachelor of Philosophy, Economics, Laws, Education, Arts, History, Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Medicine, Management, Military Science, and Fine Arts. In 2015, a tertiary education development initiative called Double First Class University Plan designed by the central government of the People's Republic of China was launched, which aims to comprehensively develop elite Chinese universities into world-class institutions by improving their faculty departments to world-class level by the end of 2050. The full list of the plan was published in September 2017, which includes 140 universities being approved as the Double First Class Universities, representing the top 5% of the total 3,012 universities and colleges in China.