University tiers and the new ‘Double First Class Initiative’ in China

‘985 Project’ and ‘211 Project’

Before we embark on the relatively new 'Double First-Class Initiative' in China, we have to go back to its precedents, 211 Project and 985 Project. The concept of ‘985’ university originated from a speech by CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin at the 100th anniversary of Peking University in May 1998 (1998年5月4日), where he announced that in order to achieve modernization, China must have a number of first-class universities with world-advanced levels. In the subsequent year, in 1999, the ‘985’ project was officially launched. 39 universities in China were awarded a ‘985’ ranking, with 8 in Beijing and 1 or 2 universities in most provinces and some provinces without any at all. The majority of the ‘985’ universities are directly governed and funded by the Ministry of Education for their research and campus investment. Despite being governed centrally by the Ministry of Education, financially, all ‘985’ universities also receive provincial educational funds. This could mean that a ‘985’ university located in economically well-positioned provinces could receive more funds than others.

?

The concept of the ‘211’ project actually started earlier than the ‘985’ project in 1995, also under Jiang Zemin Administration. The ‘211’ project aimed to prepare Chinese universities for the 21st century by building 100 best universities in China. By 2008, there were 116 universities selected as part of Project 211. In total, there are 76 universities governed directly centrally by the MoE. These centrally governed universities often enjoy favourable support financially which further facilitates their national and global impact.

While all ‘985’ universities are also ‘211’ universities, not all universities with ‘211’ awards have the status of ‘985’. Globally, the status of ‘985’ and ‘211’ are often mistakenly deemed as equivalent. In China, ‘985’ enjoys a far higher reputational position compared to ‘211’. The national strategic focus of ‘985’ is to innovate, attract and retain top staffing, overall educational enhancement, and policy and internationalisation whereas ‘211’ focuses on the overall infrastructure of the university, key disciplines development and the public services and access to higher education.

?

The affiliated College of ‘985’ ‘ 211’ Projects ?

We understand the structure of UK universities through faculties comprised of schools or sometimes a university is divided into schools. As in the UK, universities in China are divided into schools, also referred to as colleges sometimes.

?

The early stage of privatization of higher education in China has seen some private colleges who formed collaborative partnerships with top universities, to become affiliated colleges or schools of a university. The affiliated college has its school structure and governance. Despite being affiliated with the university, the college still runs itself rather independently and privately with its differentiated entry criteria, tuition fees and focus on the educational provision. In addition to affiliated universities, some Chinese university also runs continuous education where the entry criteria would be even lower.

?

Sometimes, some UK universities publish an indicative list of Chinese universities that they would accept but end up not always recruiting the best students. While ‘985’ and ‘211’ project universities are deemed as top tier-1 universities in China, these so-called ‘universities/colleges’ within a university are generally deemed as tier-3 level qualifications. For instance, the average Gaokao?entry score for Sichuan University is 600, and it is about 450 for its affiliated Sichuan University Jincheng College. However, all students graduate with a degree from Sichuan University. To recognise these affiliated colleges from other schools or colleges of a university, one needs to have a general knowledge of these types of colleges.

?

However, in 2020, the MoE promulgated a new policy to regulate these affiliated colleges of universities, to become either public or private separate colleges and universities. So now we started witnessing some colleges in the transition of changing their status or names if they have not done so already. For instance, Sichuan University Jincheng College was renamed Chengdu Jincheng College in 2021 after 16 years of partnership with Sichuan University.

?

‘Double First-Class Initiative’

?‘Double First-Class Initiative’ was first originated in 2015 as a continuation and improvement of the previous initiatives. When ‘985’, and ‘211’ focus on the criteria of the overall performance of a university, ‘Double First-Class Initiative’ has two criteria, measured either by developing top discipline or overall comprehensive measurement of a university nationally or globally. Currently, there are 137 double first-class universities in China with 42 being world-class universities and 95 having world-class discipline.

?

The membership of ‘985’ and ‘211’ universities did not change for over twenty years and the criteria were based on the historical status of these universities twenty years ago. Some emerging and fast-developed universities feel that these initiatives based on historical criteria do not represent equal opportunities for their recognition and achievements. At the same time, many scholars argue that this represents a higher education regional inequality and increased social stratification gap in China where the developed eastern part of China has more universities being awarded ‘985’ or ‘211’ status in comparison to the rest of China. For instance, Henan as one of the most populated provinces in China, with nearly 100 million population and 1 million high school graduates annually has only one university awarded ‘211’ status and has no ‘985’ university at all. While most universities in China recruit nationally, more quotas are always reserved for local students for most universities in China. Being outside of these elite circles, universities have to work much harder to catch up, and sometimes it is insurmountable.

?

The relatively new initiative of ‘double first-class initiative’ aims to create opportunities for new players in the field to compete with these historically favoured universities, as well as to offer regional balance in China. An additional quota has also been allocated to universities in the less developed central and western parts of China. At the same time, importantly, being assessed every 5 years, one can gain the status of ‘double first-class initiative’ and lose it equally as it does not hold a permanent status as previous ‘985’ or ‘211’ projects. This offers some regional universities that are strong in certain disciplines to be part of this new initiative to be able to access national funding.

Critics of this initiative argue that the lack of a clear definition of world-class discipline and university and future-oriented development might misguide some senior administrators in ranking-climbing-only games. While ‘985’ and ‘211’ projects are stopped formally they are still often used by the public and universities themselves as references to prestige, whereas the impact of ‘double first-class university’ is still evolving and unfolding.