After Chinese New Year, Ministry of Education has released the key priorities of educational work in 2022, which are still basically in line with the objectives set out in the 14^th Five-Year Plan and 2035 Vision.  The new plan shed lights on international education and collaboration opportunities. Below are some highlights and changes compared to 2021 version:

1. 14^th Five Year Plan for Education

• Implement the Guiding Opinions on Building a High-quality Development System for Education and strengthen the research on education science. 
• Place the strategic position of education as a priority. The proportion of fiscal expenditure on education to gross domestic product (GDP) is no less than 4%.

2. Improve the education system for all-round development

• promote the ‘double reduction policy’, which restricts out-of-school training institutions from providing for-profit training in academic subjects”. Strengthen the supervision and legislation of off-campus education and training, especially for curriculum-based tutoring institutions.
• For the non-curriculum tutoring providers, distinguish the sports, culture and art, science and technology theme, clarify the regulatory departments and implement regular supervisions.
• Practice health first concept, implement the action plan for the reform of PE and integration of sports and education. Host the first China Youth Football League and prepare for the first National Student (Youth) Sports Meet.
• Improve the aesthetic education curriculum system that bridges universities, primary and secondary schools, strengthen the development of aesthetic education teachers

*with the new regulations released in 2021 to reduce the burden of homework and after-school training during compulsory education stage, further legislation and supervision on the private sector is emphasized in the 2022 plan to ensure students’ welfare.

3. Promote education equality

• Accelerate the development of pre-school education, general high school education and special education
• implement the synchronous enrollment and territorial enrollment policy among public and non-government high schools
• Promote the expansion and integration of special education, "one person, one case" to improve the level of compulsory education for disabled children and adolescents.
• Strengthen the construction of standardized special education schools and barrier-free campuses, develop special education resource centers and resource classrooms.

4. Develop a high-quality textbook system with Chinese characteristics

• Start the compilation of textbooks on Chinese journalism and Chinese law, accelerate the construction of original high-level philosophy and social science textbooks.

5. Chinese language development

• Implement the State Language Commission’s 14^th Five-Year Scientific Research Plan,  promote the construction of language talents, scientific research institutions, and linguistics disciplines.
• Advance the development of global Chinese learning platform, strengthen the language and writing work among colleges and universities. Build national language and writing promotion base.
• Issue documents on strengthening international cooperation and exchanges in language and writing in the new era. Compile and implement the International Chinese Education Development Plan (2021-2025) and improve the international Chinese education standard system.

6. Talent cultivation and innovation

• Strengthen the cultivation of talents in basic disciplines, issue the "Opinions on Strengthening the Cultivation of Talents in Basic Disciplines", and implement development actions for basic subjects, courses, teaching materials, and practical conditions.
• Explore a mechanism for early discovery and training of top innovative talents, promote the implementation of the strengthening basic discipline programme, and support the reform of the integration of talents training through undergraduate, master and doctoral levels.
• Develop the Action Plan on Strengthening the Talent Training System for Carbon Dioxide Emission Peak and Carbon Neutrality.
• Serve the nation’s regional development strategy, promote the in-depth university – industry – research cooperation. Encourage universities and local stakeholders to establish joint innovation centers, carry out collaborative research with enterprises, and strengthen the capacity building on the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

7. Vocational Education:

• Enhance the adaptability of vocational education. Support the diversified development of secondary vocational schools,
• Steadily develop vocational undergraduate education, and support the integration of high-quality higher vocational resources to establish a number of undergraduate-level vocational institutions.
• Deepen the integration of industry and education, advance the cooperation between universities and enterprises, promote the shareholding system and mixed ownership of vocational education, encourage the substantive operation of vocational education groups (alliances), and support schools and enterprises to jointly build "double-teacher" teacher training bases and enterprise practice bases.
• Develop an apprenticeship system with Chinese characteristics, promote the comprehensive education of class teaching and off-campus competition and certificates.
• Implement a special plan for the training of on-site engineers in advanced manufacturing industry and strengthen the training of talents in shorted handed areas such as housekeeping, elderly care and nursery education.

8. Higher Education:

• Improve HEIs’ level of innovation, openness and cooperation, and support universities to take the lead in initiating international big science plans and projects.
• Optimize the structure and system of key research bases of Humanities and Social Sciences in Colleges and universities. Lead the initiation of social science innovation team. Encourage HEIs to play the role of think tanks and improve the capacity of political advice and social service.
• Strengthen and improve science and engineering education, promote the construction of new engineering, new medical, new agricultural and new liberal arts. Speed up the training of talents in short-handed areas of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine.

• Strengthen the training of outstanding engineers, promote HEIs and enterprises to jointly design training objectives and training plans, implement training processes, and carry out the "dual mentor system" between institutions and enterprises.
• Build a number of future technical colleges, modern industry colleges, high-level public health colleges and professional characteristic colleges, promote the construction of national industry education integration innovation platform, cultivate and build characteristic high-end medical equipment engineering practice and teaching centers, and advance the pilot construction of virtual teaching and research labs.
• Implement the action plan of revitalizing higher education in the central and western regions in the new era, create a "Western Triangle" for the development of higher education in the central and western regions, carry out the MOOC Plan 2.0 in western areas.
• Gradually weaken the identity of first-class universities and first-class discipline construction universities, select universities with distinctive characteristics and comprehensive advantages, give certain construction autonomy, and explore the development mode of classified characteristics. Carry out a new round of "double first-class" joint construction between the Ministry of Education and localities.

*2022 priorities provide more detailed development plan in central and western regions, indicating government’s strategy to promote the education equality and potential collaboration in this region

9. Non-government funding education

• Improve the policies and measures for the classified support and management of non-governmental schools
• Promote the standardizing work of private compulsory education, accelerate the structure optimization of compulsory education, and ensure that compulsory education shall be mainly provided by public schools and government procurement of services. Design the management policy for the change of private school organizers and ensure the public welfare purpose of education.

10. Further education

• Accelerate the construction of an education system that serves the lifelong learning. Standardize the development of higher further education, issue implementation opinions on promoting the reform of further education for academic qualifications held by regular colleges and universities in the new era, and strengthen the management of non-academic education provided by regular higher education institutions.
• Promote the research and practice of the National Qualifications Framework and the
• National Credit Bank. Formulate detailed regulations for the implementation of self-taught examination, and promote the reform of the content and format for self-taught examinations.
• Advance the innovative development of the Open University of China, build a network for community education.
• Accelerate the development of education for the elderly, accelerate the construction of national universities for the elderly, carry out education and training on the smart technology application for the elderly, and develop high-quality work cases, training programs and course resources on "Smart Technology for the Elderly".

*To promote a life-long education system, the 2022 plan proposed education strategy for the elderly, and technology will play a role to support this education innovation.

11. Build quality and professional teaching force

• Implement the plan to strengthen teachers for basic education in the new era, develop a number of national normal education bases and experimental zones for the reform of national teacher training.
• Improve the training system for vocational education teachers, implement plans to promote the capacity of teachers in vocational schools, and set up state-level demonstration training programs. Encourage high-level comprehensive universities to provide teacher training.

12. Education reform and innovation

• Deepen the reform of examination content, optimize the content system of all-round evaluation of morals, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and work, strengthen the examination of students' key abilities.
• Carry out classified examinations in higher vocational institutions and focus on selecting and training of high-quality technical talents.
• Promote the development of Hainan area as an international education innovation Island, and encourage overseas high-level universities and vocational institutions to set up education institutions of science, engineering, agriculture and medical subjects in Hainan Free Trade Port.
• Implement the strategic action of education digitization. Develop the "Internet + education" model, and accelerate digital transformation and smart upgrade of education.
• Construct the national smart education public service platform, innovate the mode of digital resource supply, enrich digital education and service resources, promote the application of national primary and secondary school network cloud platform. Explore smart classroom development across universities, primary and secondary schools with the support from national television class in the air programme. Optimize the class teaching format and student evaluation as well as to advance the application of internet learning.
• Improve the standard system for education digitization. Promote the pilot work of developing teacher forces through artificial intelligence.

13. Education opening up

• Strengthen the training of high-level and technical personnel from Europe. Deepen international cooperation of industry, education, research and application.
• Carry out pilot reforms of Sino-foreign cooperatively-run institutions with legal personality, as well as the training model reform in mainland and Hong Kong and Macao cooperatively-run institutions.
• Create internationally competitive study in China overseas education, reform the Chinese government scholarship enrollment and training mechanism, and promote the development of teaching materials and curricula for foreign students studying in China.
• Issue and implement Measures for Employment and Administration of Foreign Teachers (Trial), launch the comprehensive information service platform for foreign teachers.
• Deepen the cooperation with the UNESCO, promote education collaboration within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, participate in the global education management, continue to supply international organization with talents, explore international cooperation around the open science.

British Council Analysis

• The priorities are still basically in line with the objectives set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan and 2035 Vision – for example, the MoE still plans to focus on applied study and support vocational education, and to prioritise less-developed parts of the country such as central and western China.
• International cooperation in research and transnational education is still encouraged.
• Basic subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry etc and disciplines in medicine, engineering and agriculture will be further promoted.
• Despite China’s borders having been closed to international students since early in the pandemic, the country has not abandoned its goals to attract more international students which suggests that China will still remain a player in international student mobility after border restrictions are eased.
• Government will focus on talent cultivation and exchange as well as technology and research innovation that match with social development needs. Industry such as elderly care (social services), public health, advanced manufacturing and information technology will provide collaboration opportunity for UK stakeholders.

Sources:

2022 key priorities

http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/202202/t20220208_597666.html

2021 key priorities

http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/202102/t20210203_512419.html

14^th Five-Year Pan and 2035 Objectives

http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s6052/moe_838/202103/t20210315_519738.html