# Ministry of Education (China)

The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a constituent department of the State Council, responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs throughout the country. The Ministry of Education acts as the predominant funder of national universities and colleges in China. The ministry also accredits tertiary institutions, degree curriculum, and school teachers of the country.
The Ministry of Education currently has 19 internal departments and bureaus. As of 2022, there were 75 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education.

## History

The Ministry of Education was founded in October 1949. The work of the ministry was overseen by the Culture and Education Commission that was created at the same time. On October 19, writer and poet Guo Moruo was made the director of the commission, and linguist Ma Xulun was made the first education minister of the People's Republic of China.
In February 1958, the Ministry of Higher Education was merged into the Ministry of Education. In July 1964, the Ministry of Higher Education was restored. In July 1966, the Ministry of Higher Education was once again merged into the Ministry of Education.
In June 1970, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to abolish the Ministry of Education and establish the Science and Education Group of the State Council.
The Ministry of Education was restored after the disruptions of the Cultural Revolution in 1975$^{:92}$ by the 4th National People's Congress. Until the Ministry's 1975 restoration, the State Council's Science and Education Group was the most important government body in the education bureaucracy.$^{:92}$
On June 18, 1985, the Eleventh Standing Committee of the 6th National People's Congress decided to abolish the Ministry of Education and establish the National Education Commission of the People's Republic of China.
In 1998, the Decision on Institutional Reform of the State Council was adopted at the First Session of the 9th National People's Congress, and the National Education Commission was renamed the Ministry of Education.
In 2003, China's Ministry of Education called for adding environmental education content throughout the public school curriculum from the first year of primary school through the second year of high school.$^{:138}$ Its guidelines on environmental education emphasized firsthand experience and recommended that a quarter of environmental education content should consist of "practice activities".$^{:138}$
In 2019, the Ministry issued a new regulation aimed at unifying the teaching materials for primary and middle schools across China in areas including history, language, and politics.$^{:16}$

### Development of the political counselor system

In 1952, the Ministry of Education sought to develop a system of political counselors as a pilot program in universities.$^{:107}$ Tsinghua University established a political counselor program in 1953, becoming the first university to do so.$^{:107}$ In this program, new graduates who were also Chinese Communist Party members worked as political counselors in managing the student body and student organizations, often simultaneously serving as Communist Youth League secretaries.$^{:107}$
The program was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution but resumed in 1977.$^{:108}$ After its endorsement by Deng Xiaoping, the program expanded across higher educational institutions.$^{:108}$
Beginning in the 1990s, the political counselor system was further institutionalized and expanded in higher educational institutions throughout China, with the Ministry issuing standardized rules such as term limits and age limits in 2000.$^{:108}$

## Organizational structure

According to the "Regulations on the Main Functional Configuration, Internal Organizations and Staffing of the Ministry of Education," the Ministry of Education has set up the following institutions:

### Internal departments

* General Department
* Department of Policies and Regulations
* Development Planning Department
* Comprehensive Reform Department
* Personnel Department
* Finance Department
* Teaching Materials Bureau (Office of the National Teaching Materials Committee)
* Department of Basic Education
* Off-campus Education and Training Supervision Department
* Department of Vocational and Adult Education
* higher education department
* Education Supervision Bureau (Office of the State Council Education Supervision Commission)
* Department of Ethnic Education
* Department of Teacher Affairs
* Department of Physical Education, Health and Arts Education
* Ideological and Political Work Department
* Social Sciences Division
* Department of Science, Technology and Information Technology
* Department of College and University Students
* Department of Degree Management and Graduate Education (Office of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council)
* Language and Words Application Management Department
* Language and Words Information Management Department
* Department of International Cooperation and Exchange (Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Office)
* Office of the Inspector
* Party Committee of the Ministry of Education
* Retired Cadres Bureau
* Secretariat of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO

### Affiliate national bureau

* National Language and Words Work Committee (Deputy Ministerial Level)

### Affiliate public institutions

* Ministry of Education Service Center
* National Institute of Educational Administration
* Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences (Office of the National Educational Science Planning Leading Group)
* Research Center for Scientific Development of Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education
* Vocational Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education
* Chinese and Foreign Language Exchange and Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Education
* Institute of Language and Character Applications (State Language Commission Putonghua and Character Application Testing Center)
* National Open University (National University for the Elderly)
* Educational Technology and Resource Development Center of the Ministry of Education (Central Audio-visual Education Center, Basic Education Resource Center of the Ministry of Education)
* China Educational Television
* Ministry of Education Education Management Information Center
* Curriculum Materials Research Institute
* Secretariat of China Scholarship Council
* Ministry of Education Fund Supervision Affairs Center
* National Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education
* China Education Press
* Educational Examination Agency of the Ministry of Education (Teacher Qualification Examination Center of the Ministry of Education, International Educational Measurement Exchange and Cooperation Center)
* Ministry of Education Study Abroad Service Center (China Study Abroad Service Center)
* National Student Financial Aid Management Center
* Ministry of Education Student Services and Quality Development Center
* Degree and Graduate Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education
* Education Quality Assessment Center of the Ministry of Education
* Chinese and Foreign Cultural Exchange Center of the Ministry of Education
* Ministry of Education Communication and Education Center

#### Affiliate higher education institutions

There are 75 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education.
* Peking University
* Renmin University of China
* Tsinghua University
* Beijing Normal University
* China Agricultural University
* Nankai University
* Tianjin University
* Dalian University of Technology
* Jilin University
* Fudan University
* Tongji University
* Shanghai Jiao Tong University
* Nanjing University
* Southeast University
* Zhejiang University
* Xiamen University
* Shandong University
* Wuhan University
* Huazhong University of Science and Technology
* Central South University
* Sun Yat-sen University
* Chongqing University
* Sichuan University
* Xi'an Jiaotong University
* Northwest A&F University
* Lanzhou University
* Northeastern University
* East China Normal University
* Ocean University of China
* Hunan University
* South China University of Technology
* University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
* University of Science and Technology Beijing
* Beijing University of Chemical Technology
* Beijing Language and Culture University
* Beijing Foreign Language University
* Beijing Jiaotong University
* Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
* China University of Petroleum (Beijing)
* Communication University of China
* Beijing Forestry University
* China University of Political Science and Law
* Central University of Finance and Economics
* Central Conservatory of Music
* Central Academy of Drama
* Central Academy of Fine Arts
* Beijing University of Chinese Medicine
* Foreign Economic and Trade University
* North China Electric Power University
* China University of Mining (Beijing)
* China University of Geosciences (Beijing)
* Northeast Normal University
* Northeast Forestry University
* East China University of Science and Technology
* Donghua University
* Shanghai International Studies University
* Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
* He Hai University
* Nanjing Agricultural University
* China Pharmaceutical University
* Jiangnan University
* China University of Mining
* Hefei University of Technology
* China University of Petroleum (East China)
* Wuhan University of Technology
* China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)
* Huazhong Normal University
* Huazhong Agricultural University
* Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
* Southwest University
* Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
* Southwest Jiaotong University
* Shaanxi Normal University
* Xi'an University of Electronic Science and Technology
* Chang'an University

### Affiliate enterprises

* China Education Publishing and Media Group Co., Ltd.
** People's Education Press Co., Ltd.
** Higher Education Press Ltd.
** Chinese Language Publishing House Co., Ltd.
*** Language and Culture Press
*** China Audio and Video Publishing House
* Educational Science Press Co., Ltd.
The Ministry has a role in the foreign aid process thorough scholarships it provides for study in China.$^{:73}$