, there were 3,012 colleges and universities, with over 40 million students enrolled in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. More than 40 million Chinese students graduated from university from 2016 to 2020. Corresponding with the merging of many

public universities A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

has been the rapid expansion of the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

in mainland China since the 1990s. Although private university enrollments are not clear, one report listed that in 2006 private universities accounted for approximately 6%, or about 1.3 million, of the 20 million students enrolled in formal higher education in China. The quality of universities and

higher education in China In 2023, the university enrollment rate in the People's Republic of China was 60.2% according to country's Ministry of Education, representing 47 million mainland Chinese students enrolled in 4-year university and college degree programs in some ...

is internationally recognized, as China has established educational cooperation and exchanges with 188 countries and regions and 46 major international organizations, and signed agreements with 54 countries, such as the United States, British, Australia and Germany on mutual recognition of higher education qualifications and academic degrees. As of 2024, China had the world's highest number of top universities. In 2017, China had the highest number of scientific publications. As of 2024, China had the largest number of universities (396) including in the 2024–2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities. China also topped the list with 225 out of 1,000 universities in the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). More than 2,500 universities in China are included in the

Webometrics Ranking of World Universities The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, also known as Ranking Web of Universities, is a ranking system for the world's universities based on a composite indicator that takes into account both the volume of the Web content (number of web page ...

. Regardless of a variety of rankings about universities in China, the

Ministry of Education of China The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a constituent department of the State Council, responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs throughout the country. The ...

List by regions

Municipalities

Provinces

Autonomous regions

Outside mainland China

See also

References

Further reading