Published on March 2, 2023 Author: Liu Min Source: China Education News Network - China Education Daily

The report of the 20th CPC National Congress pointed out that "education, science and technology, and talent are the fundamental and strategic support for comprehensively building a modern socialist country. We must adhere to the principle that science and technology is the first productive force, talent is the first resource, and innovation is the first driving force, and deeply implement the strategy of revitalizing the country through science and education and the talent-based strategy." This comprehensive planning fully reflects the Party's profound understanding of historical development laws and the characteristics of the current era, and points the way forward for future science and education work.

Higher education is an important force for advancing the "Three Major Strategies." Since the founding of New China, Chinese higher education, under the leadership of the Party, has sought solutions and struggled hard, going through an extraordinary journey and achieving significant changes and remarkable achievements that have drawn worldwide attention.

At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the gross enrollment rate of higher education was only 0.26%. It increased to 2.7% in 1978 and to 9.8% in 1998, approaching the turn of the century. With the expansion of higher education enrollment in 1999, the gross enrollment rate continued to rise, reaching 51.6% in 2019, achieving a leapfrog development. According to the theory of higher education development stages put forward by American educational sociologist Martin Trow, China's higher education has entered the stage of massification. In 2021, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in China has reached 57.8%.

According to data from UNESCO, the enrollment scale of higher education worldwide was 235 million in 2021, while the 2021 Annual Statistical Bulletin on National Education Development released by the Ministry of Education shows that the total enrollment scale of various forms of higher education is 44.3 million. China has built the world's largest higher education system. The growth data of the enrollment scale of higher education is also worth paying attention to. In 2000, the total enrollment scale of higher education worldwide was 100 million, of which the enrollment scale growth of China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, and Bangladesh accounted for 61% of the total global enrollment scale growth. Some scholars often say that the development of higher education in the 21st century will be determined by Asia.

Meanwhile, China is the world's largest source country for international students. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted international mobility in higher education globally in recent years, the 2022 edition of the Study in France statistics report published by Campus France shows that by the end of 2019, there were still more than 6 million international students studying abroad. According to the 2022 Report on the Development of Chinese Outbound Students, between 2019 and 2020, nearly 1 million Chinese students studied at overseas higher education institutions. While actively implementing the "Study in China" program to introduce international high-quality educational resources, conducting joint educational programs with foreign institutions, and promoting cultural exchanges between China and other countries, China is pushing forward its education opening up comprehensively and cultivating talents with global competitiveness.

In order to keep pace with the technological revolution and industrial transformation, China's higher education has actively utilized the national advantage in information technology development to promote digital education and build a learning society. The number and scale of MOOCs in China have already ranked first globally, and online learning platforms such as XuetangX and China University MOOC have become familiar to many college students.

In addition to the huge changes in scale, the overall quality of higher education in our country has been constantly improving, the structure has been continuously optimized, and the regional layout has become more rational. The functions of higher education have been fully played out in terms of mechanisms and systems. For example, in terms of scientific research, China's innovative survey system for monitoring and evaluating scientific research has shown that, according to preliminary estimates, China's total R&D (research and development) expenditures reached 309 billion yuan in 2022, which is three times that of 2012 and ranks second in the world in terms of R&D investment. The ability of universities to serve the development of the country through scientific research has also made considerable progress. More than 60% of basic research and over 80% of the National Natural Science Foundation of China projects are undertaken by universities. Universities have won 60% of the first prizes in the National Natural Science Awards over the past ten years and 90% of the first prizes in the National Technological Invention Awards. With the "Double First-Class" construction of universities entering a new stage, the visibility of Chinese universities' comprehensive strength and subject rankings in the world will further improve.

The changes in higher education are in sync with the development of the motherland and respond to the challenges brought about by the unprecedented changes in the world. This change represents a shift from looking up at the world of education to seeing it on an equal level. Although everything changes, the only constant is change itself, but there are still many eternal dialectical issues in higher education itself, such as the original mission of pursuing truth and promoting intellectual progress. Promoting the comprehensive development of people is also one of the unchanging missions of higher education, which can be found in many consensus statements from ancient to modern times around the world.