On 30 March, the State Council issued a circular assigning work to government departments, aimed at accomplishing economic and social development targets set in the government work report passed earlier last month. The major tasks assigned to the Ministry of Education (MoE) focus on promoting fairer access to quality education, as well as improving the quality of higher education and vocational education.

Specifically, six of the 12 tasks assigned to the Ministry of Education are related to improving access to education or improving the quality of education in less developed areas of the country:

• To allocate a greater share of funds for public education to the central and western regions and to remote and poor areas
• To unify the urban and rural mechanisms for funding compulsory education and improve conditions in boarding schools and schools which are badly built or poorly operated
• To develop modern vocational education and, type by type, begin waiving all tuition and miscellaneous fees at schools providing secondary vocational education
• To firstly exempt students from families with financial difficulties from tuition and miscellaneous fees at regular senior high schools
• To increase the salary and other benefits of teachers in rural areas
• To increase enrollment of students from poor rural areas into key colleges, and improve and implement policies enabling children who live with their migrant worker parents to go to secondary school or take college entrance exams in their city of residence

A further four tasks are related to the expansion of specific types of education, including kindergartens, special education and private education::

• To encourage the development of kindergartens open to all children
• To see that special needs education is well provided
• To promote distance learning and expand the reach of quality educational resources;
• To support the development of non-state-owned educational institutions and to ensure they meet all relevant standards;

Finally, the Ministry of Education is charged with improving HE quality and increasing provision of more applied forms of higher education:

• To strengthen teaching and capacity for innovation at institutions of higher learning
• To encourage regular undergraduate institutions to shift focus toward providing applied education if they are in a position to do so

Apart from major tasks in Education sector, the MoE should also play a supporting role in issues lead by other Ministries:

• To promote growth in employment and new businesses, in pursuit of a more proactive employment policy and encourage business startups that create employment; As for 2016, there will be up to 7.65 million college graduates in China, multiple channels will be utilised to increase employment and encourage entrepreneurship by implementing initiatives for promoting employment of college graduates and guiding them in starting up their own businesses; To increase funds for keeping job creation stable to provide skills training for laid-off enterprise employees and help them find new employment and offer basic needs assistance to those in urban areas who face difficulties in securing employment; Notably, over 21 million training opportunities will be provided for migrant workers to improve their skills in 2016 and assistance for flexible employment and new forms of employment will be strengthened;
• To adapt to the trend toward high-end consumption, the Government will support the growth of consumption in elderly care, health services, housekeeping services, educational and training services, and cultural and sports services; The growth of emerging areas of consumption such as information goods and services, smart homes, and personalized fashion will also be strengthened;
• In the culture sector, to encourage innovation in philosophy and the social sciences, and to promote the development of literature and art; the press and publishing; radio, television, and film; and archiving; New types of Chinese think tanks will be developed; To foster a love of reading in our people, popularize scientific knowledge, promote the spirit of science; To encourage new trends in popular fitness activities.

Earlier this year before the publication of the Report on the Work of the Government 2016, the Ministry has set forth its own priorities of work in 2016, majorly focusing on five main perspectives and 34 individual items. Some are most worthy to note,

• To deepen the development of PE and Arts education in primary and secondary schools, especially to increase the popularity of school football, to organise national football games and more widely, to improve the establishment of schools and institutions specialised in football; 
• To implement talent nurturing mechanism in tertiary education with developing National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Centre, National Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching Centre, Comprehensive Clinical Skills Training Centre and University Internships Practice Base out of campus; To improve the professional-degree programmes for postgraduates;
• To further promote innovation and entrepreneurship education reform of Higher Education Institutions; to introduce a number of online courses on innovate entrepreneurship;
• To cultivate high-quality and professional teachers of primary and secondary schools; to accelerate developing the principles and standards of teacher and leadership training courses
• To speed up the progress of ICT in education, to fully utilise the market to introduce high-quality online educational resources (such as MOOCs);
• To drive the reform on non-state education; To further review and edit the guidelines to encourage the private sector to invest in education;
• To improve the admission examinations for vocational colleges in different categories, highlighting the evaluation on both academic knowledge and professional skills;
• To accelerate the development of world-class universities and disciplines; To strengthen the favorable policies to mid-western and north-eastern areas;
• To improve the geographic distribution of internationalised education, to implement the “Belt and Road” initiatives in education exchanges and collaborations; to enrich the connotation of the high-level people-to-people dialogue mechanism with the six countries (Russia, the US, the UK, EU, France and Indonesia); to develop the “Study in China” brand and to optimize services for Chinese students studying abroad; to pilot the “going global” model in vocational education through partnership with the private sector.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst Analysis and Liu Xiaoxiao, Education Services Manager:

The priority areas of work announced by the Ministry of Education could be viewed as a detailed implementation plan for the government work in 2016, as the first step towards meeting the targets set in the recent 13^th Five Year Plan. Increased access to high-quality education and reducing the gaps between China’s coastal and inland provinces are both key aspects of this plan and will have a high priority in the coming year. Meanwhile, the MoE’s current focus on employability, entrepreneurship and innovation is reinforced by the high priority given to employability and job creation across several Ministries.

The goals in the higher education sector also re-emphasise the focus on quality over quantity expressed in recent plans, as well as the ongoing shift towards converting many less-prestigious bachelor’s degree institutions to Universities of Applied Technology. The importance of the Belt and Road Initiative in the field of education internationalisation shows that attention is shifting towards the nearby countries involved in this plan, although developed countries such as the UK will continue to play an important role.

Sources:

1. Report on the Work of the Government (2016) in English -http://english.gov.cn/premier/news/2016/03/17/content_281475309417987.htm

2. Assignments by Ministries on the Work of the Government (2016) in Chinese - http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2016-03/29/content_5059540.htm#rd

3. Priorities of Work of the MoE (2016) in Chinese - http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/moe_164/201602/t20160205_229511.html