According to Huai Jinpeng, the country’s minister of education, China will continue to grow its Double First-Class program in order to create world-class universities and academic excellence in particular fields that are comparable to the best in the world.
More interdisciplinary research, improved industry collaboration, and the adoption of longer-term research methodologies are all part of the initiative’s new phase.
With an emphasis on “advantageous disciplines” that better align with the nation’s strategic objectives, the government will “moderately expand” the program.
China has been implementing university programs in recent years to create space for more technology-related programs related to key industries.
China’s higher education will become more internationally competitive and of higher quality thanks to the Double First-Class initiative. It began with 140 universities nearly ten years ago and grew to nearly 150 universities in 2022.
In addition to other advantages that can help them compete with the best universities in the world, institutions and disciplines chosen under the program will receive special funding for teaching and research in particular subject areas.
“Since 2016, universities under the scheme have trained more than 50% of the country’s masters and 80% of doctoral students and undertaken more than 90% of the special tasks of training high-level talents urgently needed by the country,” Huai Jinpeng said.
The minister claims that the program has provided more than RMB256 billion (US$35.5 billion) in research funding across the country, and that recent lists released by international ranking organizations have shown several universities and particular fields progressively rising to the top of the world rankings.
With a stronger focus on developing world-class disciplines, the program currently covers more than 500 disciplines at about 150 universities.
Chinese universities topped the charts in 18 academic disciplines in the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Ranking, which was published on November 11.
In two of these new fields, chemical engineering and environmental science and engineering, Tsinghua University holds the top spot in the world rankings.
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A selection of 308 disciplines from 100 universities was made this year. With 26 and 23 top-class disciplines, respectively, Peking University and Tsinghua University came in first and second, followed by Shanghai’s Fudan University with 14 top-class disciplines.
China’s higher education system is changing under the Double First Class initiative, which has significant ramifications for global competition.
According to Huai, advancing interdisciplinary research will also be a priority of the Double First Class initiative’s upcoming phase.
Universities will be expected to collaborate across disciplines and integrate more broadly in order to unlock significant scientific breakthroughs.
