Build China into an Education Powerhouse

Build China into an Education Powerhouse*

September 9, 2024

Currently, global transformation on a scale unseen in a century is accelerating, and the new revolution in science, technology and industry is advancing. Education has become increasingly vital in boosting a country’s core competitiveness that will help it seize the strategic initiative.

The goals of advancing high-quality development, building a modern industrial system, and responding to new demographic trends all require a larger talent pool and a better structure of disciplines. Our people have high expectations for equity and quality in education. All of this means that we still have a long way to go in our effort to build China into an education powerhouse.

The powerhouse we envision is Chinese and socialist in nature. It must therefore excel in providing moral and political guidance, making our talent more competitive, giving strong support to science and technology, improving the people’s wellbeing, increasing social synergy, and expanding international influence. These will offer strong support for building a great modern socialist country and rejuvenating the nation through Chinese modernization. To deliver them, we must develop a comprehensive moral and political education system that nourishes the roots and forges the soul of our nation, a fair basic education system based on high standards, a higher education system of superior quality, a vocational education system that integrates education with industry, a ubiquitous and accessible lifelong education system, an innovation-led science and technology support system, a system for developing competent teachers, and an open international cooperation system conducive to mutual learning. With all these systems in place and working in unison, we will be able to upgrade our education sector through improved quality and governance, and systematically move China forward from a country with a well-established education system to a genuine education powerhouse.

Building China into an education powerhouse is a complex and systemic project with the mission of cultivating a moral compass and nurturing the mind. It is designed to shape a generation of capable young people with sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills who will fully develop socialism and carry forward the socialist cause. We must make sure that our education serves the socialist cause, with full knowledge of its political nature, its people-centered core, and its strategic significance. To this end, we must properly address the following key issues by applying systems thinking.

First, we should support national strategies while meeting the people’s expectations for quality education. To achieve greater strength and self-reliance in science and technology, we should nurture leading innovators, and prioritize the cultivation of talent that is urgently needed to execute major national strategies. At the same time, we should address imbalances and insufficiencies to satisfy the people’s needs for higher-quality and more diversified education.

Second, we should make sure that our students pursue well-rounded development while increasing their knowledge. We should improve the overall quality of teaching and learning, with emphasis on cultivating students’ key competencies and consolidating their knowledge base. At the same time, to ensure the wellbeing of the students and help them pursue well-rounded development, we should refine moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and practical education, and reverse the obsession with scores.

Third, we should cultivate talent and meet social needs. Training capable people is a basic function of education, and its ability to meet the demands of socio-economic development is an important criterion to evaluate its effectiveness. We should improve our ability to adapt talent development to the needs of socio-economic development, adjust the structure of disciplines and programs in keeping with the changing times, optimize the allocation of educational resources, and improve the internship process for students to ensure that all students find the right post and reach their full potential.

Fourth, we should regulate management and stimulate vitality. On the one hand, we should improve school administration, reinforce law-based governance and management of education, effectively prevent or resolve school-related safety issues, and strengthen ideological safeguards at universities. On the other hand, we should advance comprehensive educational reform to inject momentum and vitality into education, inspiring teachers’ enthusiasm and enterprising spirit, and igniting students’ passion and motivating them to pursue their dreams.

Fifth, we should ensure that our education is firmly rooted in China’s soil while drawing on international experience. Our history, culture, and national conditions have determined that we should develop education in accordance with our Chinese roots, and this is the direction our Party has chosen. We should have firm confidence in our culture, commit ourselves to developing a socialist Chinese education, and make sure that our younger generations remain dedicated to the Party, the country, the people, and socialism. At the same time, drawing upon advanced international experience is an excellent way to strengthen our education. We should grasp the commonalities and well-established practices shared by countries with strengths in education, draw on these strengths, and leverage world-class resources and innovation factors to better develop our education.

To build China into an education powerhouse as scheduled is an arduous task, and we cannot afford to lose any time. With the strategic vision that it takes decades, not years, to cultivate talent, we will surge forward with determination and in unity to achieve our goal, like boats racing towards a finish line.

First, we must commit ourselves to the fundamental task of fostering integrity through education. We will continuously improve and strengthen moral and political education in the new era, educate and inspire students to firmly believe in Marxism and Chinese socialism, boost their confidence in national rejuvenation, and encourage them to aspire to serve the country and make it strong.

We will consistently arm our students with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and implement the project of cultivating integrity through education. We will synchronize moral and political education with the application of the Party’s new theories, design courses and textbooks built around the Thought, and advance systematic and integrated moral and political education from elementary and high schools to universities.

We will step up efforts to study and expound the Party’s innovative theories from a systematic and academic perspective, and to better understand the truth, philosophies and principles underpinning them. Guided by these theories, we will drive innovation in knowledge, theory and methodology in philosophy and social sciences, build China’s knowledge system in philosophy and social sciences with defining concepts and original theories across disciplines as the mainstay, and incorporate this knowledge system in teaching.

We will pool educational resources both in and out of the classroom, on and off campus, and online and offline. To expand the reach of offline and online education, we will highlight successful cases of great transformations in the new era, fully leverage our revolutionary heritage for education, and develop specialized online courses for moral and political education. We will further popularize standard spoken and written Chinese to heighten the sense of national identity.

Second, we will reinforce the role of education in supporting sci-tech and talent development. We should promote the positive interplay between education, talent development, and science and technology, and implement three strategies in a coordinated manner — invigorating China through science and education, building a talent strong country, and pursuing innovation-driven development. We will adopt a holistic approach to educational development, sci-tech innovation, and talent cultivation. To meet the needs of development in science and technology and serve national strategies, we will focus on strengthening our innovation capacity. We will improve mechanisms for designing and adjusting disciplines and talent training models, make exceptional plans for disciplines and majors that are in great demand, and strengthen the development of basic disciplines, emerging disciplines, interdisciplinary programs, and elite professionals.

We will highlight the role of first-class research universities as the main force for national basic research and as the source for major breakthroughs in science and technology. We will improve the organization of basic research and initiate projects that aim to make breakthroughs in both basic subjects and interdisciplinary fields. We will establish an effective mechanism to ensure that innovation and talent development complement each other, and drive the development of disciplines up to high standards. We should identify major research topics based on national strategic needs, and produce original and disruptive results on a regular basis. We will promote the application and commercialization of research findings generated by universities, and strengthen R&D cooperation between universities and enterprises. By improving coordination, establishing new platforms, and removing obstacles, we can translate more research results into productive forces as quickly as possible.

We will optimize the planning of our higher education, and develop world-class universities and strong disciplines with Chinese characteristics. We will build up our domestic capacity for cultivating talent and attracting high-caliber professionals, thus building and expanding the pool of talent with expertise of national strategic importance. We will explore new approaches to cultivating leading innovators, and redouble our efforts to identify future engineers early and hone their skills through master’s and doctoral degree programs. We will facilitate the healthy growth of young scientists through sustained support and longer-term performance evaluation. To meet the diverse needs for talent, we will carry out reform of higher education and help different categories of universities find their place in talent cultivation, encouraging them to leverage their respective strengths and characteristics in different fields and produce results. We will work faster to build a vocational system that integrates vocational education with general education and with industrial sectors, and improve the policy environment to train master technicians, outstanding craftspeople, and highly skilled workers.

Third, we will improve the quality and standards of education as a public service. Upholding a people-centered approach, we will make education more inclusive, accessible and convenient, and ensure that successes in education reform and development benefit all our people in a fair way. We will establish mechanisms for aligning the provision of basic public education services with demographic changes to optimize the allocation of educational resources across regions. To gradually narrow the gaps in education between urban and rural areas, and between different regions, schools, and social groups, we will promote the high-quality, balanced development of compulsory education, and intensify efforts to apply uniform standards to schools delivering compulsory education. We will give special attention and care to children with disabilities, and those who remain in rural areas while their parents are away to work in cities. By these means, we will improve education services and the management of boarding schools, essential small village schools, and special education schools. We will promote universal coverage and affordability of preschool education, support diversified development of senior high school education, and tap the potential to gradually expand free education. We will continue to relieve students of excessive burdens from homework and off-campus tutoring during the compulsory education stage, and improve the overall quality of classroom teaching and after-class services. We will channel more resources to develop infrastructure for preschool education and corrective education.

We will further implement the national digital strategy for education by developing and utilizing the Smart Education of China platform. We will also leverage artificial intelligence in education reform and explore effective digital means to facilitate individualized learning on a large scale and create more innovative forms of teaching that allow a greater number of people to benefit from high-quality education. Additionally, we will improve the public services and the system for lifelong learning to build a society in which everyone can learn wherever and whenever they wish.

Fourth, we will train highly competent teachers for the new era. We will launch an initiative to advocate the ethos of educators and help improve our teachers’ professional ethics and conduct. We will ensure that this ethos thrives at every stage of the education process, including classroom teaching, scientific research, and social practice. We will raise the overall standards of normal education by improving the quality of faculty training and encouraging top universities to engage in the training of future teachers. We will improve the management of teaching staff and optimize the allocation of teaching resources in a coordinated manner, and adjust the teacher-to-student ratio and the structure of teaching positions to address teacher shortages in certain specific positions, at different educational stages, and in various regions.

Respecting teachers and valuing education are fine traditions of the Chinese nation. We will ensure that teachers enjoy high political, social and professional status, and guarantee their remuneration and benefits. Specifically, we will improve subsidy policies for rural teachers, and reform the remuneration system in higher education institutions. We will maintain the dignity of the teaching profession and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of teachers, relieve them of non-pedagogical burdens, and guarantee their retirement benefits. We will step up our efforts in recognizing and commending outstanding teachers and sharing their stories, and ensure that teaching enjoys high social status and remains one of the most respected professions.

Fifth, we will develop important education centers of global influence. We will further open up the education sector, coordinate efforts for “bringing in” and “going global”, increase our competitiveness in international education, and strengthen our voice, so that we will be in a better position to contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity. We will further build up our capacity for running higher education institutions overseas, and improve the international cooperation mechanism for integrating vocational education with industry and coordination between vocational colleges and enterprises. We will encourage top foreign universities in science and engineering to develop partner schools and programs in China. We will increase international academic exchanges and cooperation in education and research, and expand youth exchanges between China and other countries. We will strengthen cooperation with international organizations and multilateral mechanisms, actively participate in global education governance, and contribute more to the development of global education.

It is the shared responsibility of the Party and the country to build China into an education powerhouse on the new journey in the new era. We must uphold and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over education, and continue to improve the leadership mechanism for education, in which Party committees exercise unified leadership, Party and government bodies jointly shoulder responsibilities, and the departments concerned properly perform their duties. The Central Leading Group for Education should step up coordination, pursue overall progress, and ensure policy implementation. Party committees and governments at all levels should prioritize education as a strategic duty, and earnestly implement the Outline of the Development Plan for Education (2024-2035). Schools, families and society should synergize efforts to pursue this shared goal of building China into an education powerhouse.

* Part of the speech at the National Education Conference.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)