For most foreign students, a clear understanding of the education system of China is a great guarantee for a pleasant study experience in China. The whole system of China education may look complex for you, but you may need to pay attention to the following aspects.

 

Usually the education in China can be divided into three categories: basic education, higher education, and adult education. In discussing the various categories, especially primary and secondary education, it is important to keep in mind that China has a Compulsory Education Law, which went into effect on July 1, 1986.

 

Basic education in China includes pre-school education, primary education and regular secondary education.

 

Pre-school, or kindergarten, can last up to three years, with children entering as early as age three, until age six. Secondary education is divided into academic secondary education and specialized/vocational/technical secondary education.
Academic secondary education is delivered by academic lower and upper middle schools.

Higher Education

Higher education at the undergraduate level includes two-year and three-year junior colleges (sometimes also called short-cycle colleges, four-year colleges), and universities offering programs in both academic and vocational subjects. Many colleges and universities also offer graduate programs leading to the master’s or Ph.D. degree.

 

Chinese higher education at the undergraduate level is divided into three-year and four-year programs. The former is offered not only at short-cycle colleges, but frequently also at four-year colleges and universities. The latter is offered at four-year colleges and universities but do not always lead to the bachelor's degree.

 

The adult education category in China overlaps all three of the above categories. Adult primary education includes Workers’ Primary Schools, Peasants’ Primary Schools, and literacy classes. And adult secondary education includes radio/TV specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary school for cadres, specialized secondary schools for staff and workers, specialized secondary schools for peasants, in-service teacher training schools and correspondence specialized secondary schools.

  

The State Education Commission (SEC) is the chief administrative organ in charge of oversees education in China. The SEC formulates and enforces policies, principles and laws concerning education, and coordinates the various governmental agencies' operation of the individual schools. The influence of the SEC is directly felt mostly in the institutions of higher education, as the governance and management of primary and secondary schools is left to the local governments.

 

There are 36 national-level colleges and universities directly under the control of the SEC. Of these colleges and universities, 25 are among the key institutions, including internationally known Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University. These are specialized colleges and universities, some of which are key institutions dedicated to training advanced personnel for the sponsoring ministries.

 

The designation of "Key School" exists for selected schools at every educational level in China: elementary, secondary and higher. In addition, there are various levels of the "key" designation itself: There are national key institutions, provincial or municipal key institutions, and county or district key institutions. Key schools all enjoy priority funding as well as the privilege of recruiting the best students. For such schools, success is usually measured in terms of the percentage of its graduates entering colleges and universities, especially the key colleges and universities. The philosophy has been that giving a limited number of schools, colleges and universities priority in allocating limited resources, then the training of the needed top-level manpower for China's reconstruction can be carried out more efficiently.