China Education News

Introduction

The "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" explicitly calls for "building globally influential education centers, science centers, and talent centers," placing education in a strategic position crucial to the nation's overall situation. This fully reflects the high importance the Party Central Committee attaches to the development of education. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we must thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, proceed from the structural attributes of internal and external cycles, focus on internal circulation blockages and key external circulation issues, advance comprehensive education reform in an integrated manner, improve the systems for students studying abroad and international students in China, and strive to build our country into a globally influential education center, strongly supporting Chinese modernization.

1. Deepening Comprehensive Education Reform to Enhance Education's Internal Circulation Capacity

Focus on leading disciplines and appropriately expand the scope of the "Double First-Class" initiative.

First, prioritize support for universities with strong basic research capabilities and outstanding advantages in interdisciplinary, frontier, and emerging fields; focus on research universities with a high proportion of postgraduate training and strong comprehensive strength, as well as universities with strong development momentum and a good social reputation; provide targeted support to high-level local universities with strong social service capabilities and distinctive characteristics. Second, optimize the landscape of world-class disciplines and majors. Focus on national strategies and industrial needs, and dynamically adjust the structure of disciplines and majors. Strengthen the leading role of basic disciplines, promote interdisciplinary integration, and build interdisciplinary innovation clusters; leverage the strengths and characteristics of universities to focus on developing a group of top-tier disciplines and majors that can lead the academic frontier and serve national development. Third, build a cohesive system for cultivating top-notch innovative talents. Promote the integrated development of disciplines, majors, and curricula, and strengthen the collaborative education mechanism that integrates industry and education, as well as science and education; establish a cohesive mechanism for cultivating top-notch innovative talents across primary, secondary, and higher education, using talent training programs and curricula as the carrier to link basic and higher education talent cultivation; strengthen the synergy between science/technology education and humanities education, promote the integration of arts and sciences, and cultivate well-rounded top-notch innovative talents.

Strengthen the practical exploration of the internationalization of higher education at home.

First, establish talent cultivation mechanisms aligned with international standards. Encourage "Double First-Class" universities to introduce high-quality foreign educational resources, use the cultivation of international talent as a driver to promote scientific research cooperation, faculty exchange, and mutual recognition with partners; rely on universities with a relatively solid foundation and strong capacity to pilot initiatives, cultivating international talent with a global perspective and a sense of national commitment; build a structured international curriculum system comprising specialized courses, general education courses, cultural courses, and practical courses, and fully integrate international elements into curriculum design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Second, advance the digitalization of education to empower student virtual mobility. Strengthen the deep integration of education and teaching with technologies such as the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence, comprehensively innovate educational concepts, content, and methods, build digital education platforms, and focus on creating branded internationalization-at-home programs; use digital and AI technologies to integrate full life-cycle data, create precise profiles for teachers and students, fully grasp students' learning status and growth trajectories, and improve the suitability of talent cultivation.

Participate deeply in global education governance.

First, practice the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. Commit to tackling scientific research challenges in areas of global concern such as climate change, energy transition, public health, and AI governance, proactively initiate and lead international mega-science programs to enhance international discourse power. Second, participate in formulating international rules and standards. Strengthen international educational assistance, contributing China's educational experience and wisdom to world peace and development. Third, emphasize the cultivation of talent for international organizations. Universities should attach high importance to the development of disciplines and majors related to international organizations, systematically build and continuously improve systems for talent cultivation, curriculum development, faculty development, and internships at international organizations, preparing and building a reserve of talent for international organizations. Fourth, tell China's story well. Establish and improve a government-led, multi-stakeholder collaborative external publicity mechanism, effectively integrate the strengths of university think tanks, international student groups, and non-governmental organizations, actively utilize platforms such as international journals, academic conferences, international cooperative organizations, and digital media to systematically promote the theoretical achievements, practical measures, and development experience of Chinese education. Simultaneously, further improve mechanisms for teacher and student overseas exchanges, encouraging them to present their research findings on international stages.

2. Strengthening Top-Level Design for Studying Abroad to Enhance Education's External Circulation Capacity

Coordinate the landscape of overseas study from a high-level perspective.

Firmly establish a quality culture awareness, follow the development logic of "scale accumulation – structural optimization – qualitative and efficiency leap," establish a dual-track process for "traditional strongholds" and "new frontiers," and expand study abroad destination countries; align with national strategic needs and socio-economic development demands, strengthen the selection and cultivation of overseas study professionals suited to the development of new quality productive forces, increase the scale of state-sponsored study abroad programs, focusing on cultivating top-notch innovative talents and industry leaders in areas urgently needed, in short supply, weak, blank, and critical for the nation, guide self-funded students to highly align their choice of discipline and major with the needs of the times and their personal expertise, and precisely plan the disciplinary, professional, and hierarchical structure for studying abroad.

Build a trinity study abroad trust evaluation system of "Quality-Trust-Safety."

Strengthen the review and evaluation of study abroad programs, scientifically assess the trust level of destination countries, and establish a whitelist system for study destinations; universities and families should collaborate to guide students in establishing the belief in studying abroad for the nation, always considering national needs during their personal educational investment abroad, and telling China's story well; conduct various forms of online and offline special lectures and scenario simulations covering the entire cycle of study abroad safety education before and during studies; improve study abroad early warning mechanisms, relief mechanisms, and tracking evaluation mechanisms to provide macro policy guidance for studying abroad; strengthen the qualification review and annual audit of study abroad agencies, further rectify the study abroad agency service market, severely punish irregularities in the study abroad market, and standardize the work related to self-funded study abroad.

Improve the return mechanism for overseas study talents.

First, continuously improve the talent introduction mechanism. Establish a dual-track reward mechanism combining material and spiritual incentives, meet the career development needs of talents at different levels through project support, financial support, and academic exchange support, to attract high-level overseas talents to return to China for development. Second, encourage returned students to innovate and start businesses, providing policy incentives, funding, and platform support.

3. Promoting the Building of the "Study in China" Brand to Enhance the Attractiveness of Inbound Student Mobility

Create an international study brand with distinctive Chinese characteristics.

First, create regionalized international study demonstration zones. Relying on key regions such as pilot free trade zones, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Yangtze River Delta, form regional study education alliances, integrate international resources, unify enrollment standards, build international teacher-student communities, implement credit recognition, joint degree, and exchange mechanisms, leverage agglomeration effects, and enhance international visibility. Second, create demonstration provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) for studying in China. Leveraging geographical advantages, focusing on border provinces, create an international city atmosphere through public space design, or hold international cultural and art festivals, and academic exchange activities to construct multicultural scenes, and strengthen provincial-level study brands. Third, create demonstration schools for studying in China. Using various key schools as the main body, promote the diversification of student sources. "Double First-Class" universities should base their efforts on disciplinary frontiers, integrate professional advantages, and create "Chinese characteristics, world-class" degree programs; "Double High Plan" vocational colleges should focus on vocational education, develop "professional skills + Chinese language + culture" courses, deepen industry-education integration, mutually recognize credits with overseas institutions, host international competitions, and build the "Study in China · Skills Power" brand; primary and secondary schools should invite Chinese and foreign renowned teachers through projects like summer camps and international school terms to strengthen the basic education study brand.

Innovate the talent cultivation mechanism for international students in China.

First, raise the threshold for studying in China to improve the quality of student intake. Based on geography, educational level, and professional type, implement differentiated market strategies to ensure diversified student sources; establish quality norms and standard systems for education for international students in China, strengthen discipline construction, major development, and bilingual teaching to enhance the quality and supervision of education for international students. Second, strengthen the alignment of ideological and political education in the curriculum and dedicated ideological and political courses for international students, integrating Chinese national conditions, excellent traditional Chinese culture, modern civilization, laws and regulations, and international understanding into the curriculum system and the entire cultivation process, achieving the dual goals of knowledge education and value guidance, making China's story vivid, in-depth, and透彻, and enhancing China's position in the global educational discourse system. Third, establish a whole-process education mechanism covering enrollment-cultivation-graduation. Strictly control the enrollment entrance, basing selection on academic qualifications, language, and academic performance, combined with interviews and research assistantships to assess comprehensive quality; actively research and understand the needs of international students, expand disciplinary directions, develop characteristic curriculum systems aligned with international standards, and offer distinctive professional directions; establish high-quality teaching management mechanisms, adopt online-offline blended teaching, and strengthen the integration of language and major studies; implement phased internship mechanisms, enhance the study experience through high-quality internship and employment services, and create brand programs.

Establish a quality assurance system for international student education.

First, establish a whole-process service system. Gauge international students' expectations through forums, questionnaires, and daily communication, provide all-round support in cross-cultural adaptation, academics, life, and employment, continuously improve service quality, thereby enhancing reputation and fully demonstrating the broad-mindedness and responsibility of a major country. Second, establish an internationalized evaluation system. Revise and improve policy documents such as the "Quality Standards for Higher Education for International Students in China (Trial)" and the "Measures for the Management of Foreign Students" based on national education laws and regulations, develop a national standard system for the education of international students in China, clarifying the minimum standards for school-running conditions and various stages of cultivation; strengthen international degree certification, improve the system for mutual recognition and conversion of international students' learning outcomes, broaden channels for transfer and exchange studies by establishing transnational qualification frameworks and bilateral education agreements, and reduce barriers to studying in China. Third, strengthen the all-member accountability mechanism. Establish a trinity all-member accountability mechanism of "government-universities-society," covering the entire process of enrollment, teaching, and management. The government should timely revise and improve laws, regulations, and policies regarding quality standards for postgraduate education for international students in China, and improve supervision and inspection mechanisms; universities should健全 the teaching and management systems for international students in China, strengthen the construction of分流退出 mechanisms for international students, and压实 the responsibilities of supervisors and counselors; at the societal level, third-party professional industry organizations should be established with government support and university leadership to conduct quality evaluation and certification for studying in China according to law, guided by quality and efficiency improvement, and balancing short-term results and阶段性评价.

(Author Zhang Xiaohua is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Education, Renmin University of China; Zhou Guangli is the Dean of the School of Education, Renmin University of China. This article is a phased achievement of the 2024 Major Project of the Ministry of Education's Philosophy and Social Sciences Research, "Research on General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Exposition on Building a Strong Education Nation" [24JZD003].)

Source: 《中国教育报》2025年11月12日 第05版

Authors: 张小花 周光礼

URL: http://www.jyb.cn/rmtzgjyb/202511/t20251112_2111412151.html