This has led to a sharp rise in real incomes. The economy has shifted from a planned to a market-based economy requiring an underpinning of human capital. The country has achieved near universal compulsory education. Nevertheless, much remains to be done. For example, the country has very low senior secondary and tertiary enrolment ratios and government spending on education currently ranks 98 th in the world.
China has a long history of private education, dating back to the time of Confucius.
Private education re-emerged in the early 1980s, following the launch of the economic reform program in the late 1970s. Estimates of the size of the private sector today vary. According to official figures, in 1998, there were nearly 42,000 private education institutions in China. Excluding the tertiary sector, these private institutions taught some 6.5 million students in 1998. Some observers estimate that there are currently 4 million students studying at privately funded tertiary institutions in China.