Third Plenum: comprehensive education reform to support national strategy

context: As mentioned in the 2024 Government Work Report 'invigorating China through science and education' is still a focus in the Third Plenum Resolution. Education was mentioned 36 times in the resolution and ‘education and science talents’ prioritised to be the foundations of Chinese modernisation to serve a greater national strategy. 

The Third Plenum Resolution calls for a comprehensive reform of education and scitech talent systems. 

  • education reform
    • develop a high-quality education system
    • reform teaching methods, school models, management systems and support mechanisms
  • education focus
    • moral and intellectual development mechanisms
    • integrate ideological and political education across primary, secondary and higher education
    • holistic student development
    • establish long-term mechanisms for teacher ethics and conduct
    • reform education evaluation
  • higher education
    • create world-class universities and disciplines with Chinese characteristics
    • promote differentiated reform in higher education institutions
      • establish mechanisms for adjusting academic disciplines and talent training to align with technological development and national strategic needs
      • develop basic, emerging and interdisciplinary subjects 
      • cultivate top-tier talent
      • implement exceptional plans for urgently needed disciplines
        • intelligent medicine
        • internet healthcare
        • medical devices
        • biological breeding
        • smart farmland
        • seed science and engineering
        • intelligent agricultural and forestry equipment
        • rural planning and design
    • improve innovation capability and technology innovation mechanisms
    • increase the efficiency of research result applications
  • integrated education
    • coordinate between science and humanities 
    • develop a vocational education system that integrates vocational and general education with industry-education collaboration
    • improve student internship and practice systems
    • regulate and guide the development of private education.
    • promote high-level educational openness and encourage cooperation with high-level foreign science and engineering universities in China
  • addressing declining birth rate
    • a mechanism for providing basic public education services that aligns with population changes
    • promote high-quality and balanced compulsory education
    • gradually expand the scope of free education
    • support mechanisms for pre-school, special and specialised education
    • advance the digitalisation of education
    • develop a learning-oriented society
    • support for lifelong education