The Ministry of Education currently has 19 internal departments and bureaus. As of 2022[update], there were 75 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education.[2][3]
The Ministry of Education was founded in October 1949. The work of the ministry was overseen by the Culture and Education Commission that was created at the same time. On October 19, writer and poet Guo Moruo was made the director of the commission, and linguist Ma Xulun was made the first education minister of the People's Republic of China.[4]
In February 1958, the Ministry of Higher Education was merged into the Ministry of Education. In July 1964, the Ministry of Higher Education was restored. In July 1966, the Ministry of Higher Education was once again merged into the Ministry of Education.[5][6]
The Ministry of Education was restored after the disruptions of the Cultural Revolution in 1975[7]: 92 by the 4th National People's Congress. Until the Ministry's 1975 restoration, the State Council's Science and Education Group was the most important government body in the education bureaucracy.[7]: 92
On June 18, 1985, the Eleventh Standing Committee of the 6th National People's Congress decided to abolish the Ministry of Education and establish the National Education Commission of the People's Republic of China.
In 1998, the Decision on Institutional Reform of the State Council was adopted at the First Session of the 9th National People's Congress, and the National Education Commission was renamed the Ministry of Education.[5][6]
In 2003, China's Ministry of Education called for adding environmental education content throughout the public school curriculum from the first year of primary school through the second year of high school.[8]: 138 Its guidelines on environmental education emphasized firsthand experience and recommended that a quarter of environmental education content should consist of "practice activities".[8]: 138
Development of the political counselor system[edit]
In 1952, the Ministry of Education sought to develop a system of political counselors as a pilot program in universities.[9]: 107 Tsinghua University established a political counselor program in 1953, becoming the first university to do so.[9]: 107 In this program, new graduates who were also Chinese Communist Party members worked as political counselors in managing the student body and student organizations, often simultaneously serving as Communist Youth League secretaries.[9]: 107
The program was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution but resumed in 1977.[9]: 108 After its endorsement by Deng Xiaoping, the program expanded across higher educational institutions.[9]: 108
Beginning in the 1990s, the political counselor system was further institutionalized and expanded in higher educational institutions throughout China, with the Ministry issuing standardized rules such as term limits and age limits in 2000.[9]: 108
According to the "Regulations on the Main Functional Configuration, Internal Organizations and Staffing of the Ministry of Education," the Ministry of Education has set up the following institutions:[2][10][3]
Educational Technology and Resource Development Center of the Ministry of Education (Central Audio-visual Education Center, Basic Education Resource Center of the Ministry of Education)
China Educational Television
Ministry of Education Education Management Information Center
Curriculum Materials Research Institute
Secretariat of China Scholarship Council
Ministry of Education Fund Supervision Affairs Center
National Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education
China Education Press
Educational Examination Agency of the Ministry of Education (Teacher Qualification Examination Center of the Ministry of Education, International Educational Measurement Exchange and Cooperation Center)
Ministry of Education Study Abroad Service Center (China Study Abroad Service Center)
National Student Financial Aid Management Center
Ministry of Education Student Services and Quality Development Center
Degree and Graduate Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education
Education Quality Assessment Center of the Ministry of Education
Chinese and Foreign Cultural Exchange Center of the Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education Communication and Education Center
^ abMinami, Kazushi (2024). People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN9781501774157.
^ abEfird, Rob (2020). "Nature for Nurture in Urban Chinese Childrearing". In Esarey, Ashley; Haddad, Mary Alice; Lewis, Joanna I.; Harrell, Stevan (eds.). Greening East Asia: The Rise of the Eco-Developmental State. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0-295-74791-0. JSTORj.ctv19rs1b2.
^Chen, Muyang (2024). The Latecomer's Rise: Policy Banks and the Globalization of China's Development Finance. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. ISBN9781501775857.
