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What Double First-Class is for: the Ministry's stated aims for the second round

Sources checked · Unofficial summary

In a press Q&A dated 14 February 2022, a responsible official of the Ministry of Education said that the second round should keep carrying out the 2015 Overall Plan and focus on training high-level talent, meeting national strategic needs and building universities and disciplines in a high-quality way. The official linked these aims to the Ministry's goals for 2030 and 2035. This page sets out those answers, with the notice that published the second-round list.

This is a reference guide for international students and families who look up universities in mainland China. It sits alongside this directory's section page, which covers the Double First-Class list.

The notice and the list

Paragraph 1 of the notice of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, dated 9 February 2022 and numbered 教研函〔2022〕1号, says that an expert committee recognised the construction universities and disciplines. It says the three ministries studied the list and submitted it to the State Council for approval. The same paragraph refers to the State Council's Overall Plan for Promoting the Construction of World-Class Universities and First-Class Disciplines, to the Opinions on Further Promoting the Construction of World-Class Universities and First-Class Disciplines, and to the Implementation Measures (Trial) for the same construction.

Paragraph 1 also names two annexes. Annex 1 is the list of second-round Double First-Class construction universities and disciplines. Annex 2 is the list of first-round construction disciplines given a public warning, including revocation. This page does not name any discipline from Annex 2.

Paragraph 2 of the same notice says that Peking University (北京大学) and Tsinghua University (清华大学) determined their second-round construction disciplines independently and published them themselves. It also says that first-round disciplines given a public warning should strengthen rectification and will undergo evaluation in 2023.

The Ministry's stated aims

Question 2 of the press Q&A, dated 14 February 2022, asks about the guiding thinking and overall considerations behind the Opinions. The official's answer describes the 2015 Overall Plan as the programmatic document for Double First-Class construction. It says each construction cycle needs to move forward around overall targets and stage requirements.

According to the same answer, the Opinions set out a new position, a new mission and new requirements for the construction. The answer names three orientations: training first-rate talent, serving national strategic needs and striving for world-class standards. It also names coordinated promotion and classified construction of world-class universities and disciplines as the approach, along with deeper institutional reform.

The answer ties these aims to two targets. One is that more universities and disciplines enter the ranks of world-class by 2030. The other is that China builds a strong nation in education and talent by 2035. In key core fields, the answer names faster training of strategic scientific and technological talent, leading scientific and technological talent and innovation teams. It also names training of outstanding engineers and the aim of pushing toward the forefront of the world in more fields.

Key tasks for the second round

Question 4 of the same press Q&A asks what the key tasks of the second round are. The official's answer says the second round continues to carry out the 2015 Overall Plan and related documents. The answer gives the following tasks, in its own order:

  1. Strengthen the Party's overall leadership. Improve a system in which Party committees give unified leadership, Party and government manage jointly, and each department takes its own responsibility. Strengthen the main responsibility of construction universities, implement and expand university autonomy, and match authority with responsibility.
  2. Hold to the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education. Teach in line with Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. Improve the duty of teachers to teach and educate. Give construction universities a main role in training urgently needed high-level talent and basic research talent. Train outstanding engineers and interdisciplinary engineering talent, and serve the building of major world talent centres and innovation hubs.
  3. Serve national strategic needs. Aim at scientific frontiers and key fields. Optimise the layout of disciplines, majors and talent training, and push forward the adjustment of disciplines and majors. Consolidate basic disciplines. Link applied disciplines with industry and regional development. Build the system of Chinese-characteristic philosophy and social sciences, and promote interdisciplinary integration.
  4. Build a high-level teaching staff. Attract and cultivate talent, improve the building of innovation teams, and steadily support young talent with innovation potential.
  5. Deepen the integration of science and education in support of self-reliance in science and technology. Push forward the Ministry's Everest Programme for basic research in higher education (高等学校基础研究珠峰计划). Strengthen core technology research in key fields, concentrate resources on training high-level innovative talent and joint research, and coordinate major research platforms within the national innovation system.
  6. Raise the level of international cooperation and exchange. Explore new study-abroad support mechanisms for two-way exchange with high-level universities abroad. Raise the international competitiveness of talent training, take part in the global innovation network, and take on education and research tasks on problems common to human survival and development.
  7. Improve management and evaluation. Perfect a monitoring and evaluation system for construction results. Explore classified evaluation and international peer review. Build a diversified evaluation system oriented to innovation value, capacity and contribution. Optimise a demand-oriented, quality-conditioned dynamic adjustment mechanism, and explore a new model of self-directed, distinctive development for construction universities.
  8. Improve stable support. Guide diversified stable investment and innovate fund management. Provide differentiated fiscal support to construction universities and disciplines, strengthen basic guarantees, and focus on core basic disciplines, advantageous and distinctive disciplines, and emerging interdisciplinary disciplines.

Background from the first round

Question 1 of the press Q&A gives background on the first round, which ran from 2016 to 2020. The official said the first round advanced in an orderly way and produced obvious results in reform and development. The answer also names remaining problems: insufficient supply of high-level innovative talent, service to national strategic needs that was not precise enough, and resource allocation that needs optimising.

The answer says the new development stage calls for a sharper focus on key points and difficulties. It also calls for attention to connotative construction, distinctive construction and high-quality construction.

Notes on the texts and the list

The official documents are in Chinese. The English on this page is this site's own translation of the Chinese text. English names of institutions and disciplines on this directory are the directory's own renderings, and the official lists are in Chinese. This page gives institution names in Chinese only. The list itself is Annex 1 to the notice dated 9 February 2022, and this page does not reproduce it. Confirm any institution against the current official list before relying on it.

Questions people ask

What does the official say the second round should continue from?

In the answer to question 4 of the press Q&A dated 14 February 2022, the official says the second round continues to carry out the spirit of the 2015 Overall Plan and related documents, and moves construction and reform tasks into effect.

Which document contains the second-round list?

Paragraph 1 of the notice dated 9 February 2022 (教研函〔2022〕1号) refers to the list of second-round construction universities and disciplines as Annex 1. Annex 2 of the same notice lists first-round construction disciplines given a public warning, including revocation.

What does the official say the guiding thinking of the second round is?

In the answer to question 2 of the press Q&A dated 14 February 2022, the official says the Opinions set out a new position, a new mission and new requirements for Double First-Class construction. The stated aims are training first-rate talent, serving national strategic needs and striving for world-class standards, tied to the Ministry's goals for 2030 and 2035.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026.

This page is an unofficial summary. It is not published by the Ministry of Education or any university, and it promises no admission outcome. The official Chinese text and the current official list prevail if they differ.

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