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China's Double First-Class list: what it is and how to read it

Sources checked · Unofficial summary

The Double First-Class list is a list of universities and disciplines published by three Chinese government bodies: the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission. The current list is the second round. It was issued on 9 February 2022 as notice Jiao Yan Han [2022] No. 1, and its first attachment names 147 universities together with the disciplines listed for each.

What the notice says

The notice is short. It states that the list was determined by an expert committee, studied by the three bodies and approved by the State Council. It publishes two attachments:

Attachment What it contains
Attachment 1 The second-round list of Double First-Class universities and disciplines
Attachment 2 First-round disciplines given a public warning, including withdrawals

The notice adds that disciplines given a public warning should be rectified and would be evaluated in 2023.

How the list is laid out

Attachment 1 is a single list ordered by institution code. Each line gives a university's name, followed by the disciplines listed for it. A university can have one discipline or many. The list does not sort universities into tiers or classes, and it does not rank them.

Two universities are treated differently. The notice states that Peking University and Tsinghua University determine their own Double First-Class disciplines and publish them themselves. The attachment therefore names no disciplines for either.

Counting the lines of Attachment 1 gives 147 universities. Counting the distinct discipline names gives 97. Both figures are this site's count of the published attachment, made on 11 October 2026.

What the list does not tell you

The list names universities and disciplines. It does not give a university's location, fees, programmes taught in English, entry requirements or anything about international admissions. For location and administering body, this directory uses a second source, the Ministry of Education's national list of higher education institutions. For programmes, fees and deadlines, the source is each university's own website.

Being on the list is a statement about a discipline at a university. It is not a statement that every programme at that university is listed, and the list makes no comparison between a listed discipline at one university and the same discipline at another.

How this directory uses it

Every university in the directory is one of the 147; the directory holds the 144 civilian ones. Each university page shows the disciplines the list names for it. The subject pages turn the list around: they start from a discipline and show the universities listed for it. Disciplines are grouped under the categories of the official discipline catalogue, such as Engineering or Medicine.

Three of the 147 are military institutions that do not appear in the national list of regular higher education institutions. This directory covers civilian universities only, so those three have no entry here.

Questions

How many universities are on the Double First-Class list?

Attachment 1 of the second-round notice names 147 universities. That is this site's count of the attachment as published on the Ministry of Education's website.

Is the Double First-Class list a ranking?

No. The attachment is ordered by institution code, and it does not rank universities or disciplines against each other.

Why do Peking University and Tsinghua University have no disciplines listed?

The notice states that these two universities determine their own Double First-Class disciplines and publish them themselves, so the attachment names none for them.

Does the list say which universities accept international students?

No. The list does not mention international admissions. Each university publishes its own admission rules.

Who issues the list?

The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the second-round notice jointly, and the notice states that it was approved by the State Council.

Sources, checked 11 October 2026:

Directory Desk