By LI Linxu

Aiming to build more world-class universities and disciplines, China expanded Double First-class Initiative list on February 11.

The list now consists of 147 universities, up by seven percent compared to the previous list, and 331 disciplines, ranging from science and engineering to social sciences.

Meanwhile, 16 disciplines at 15 universities have been warned and told they must improve to preserve their status on the list, with their progress to be reviewed again in 2023.

The initial plan, conceived in 2015, is going to develop a growing number of world-class universities and disciplines by 2030 and build an education powerhouse by 2050.

As a flagship initiative to boost the high-quality development of China's higher education sector, it runs in a five-year cycle.

In its first round, significant progress has been made in terms of faculty team, talent cultivation, key core sci-tech breakthroughs, international cooperation, as well as governance mechanisms, said an official from the Ministry of Education (MOE) during a media briefing, adding that more efforts should be made to meet the urgent needs of the country's economic and social development.

Degree Awarding Ceremony of Beijing Institute of Technology. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

In the new round, the initiative will focus on serving national strategic needs, developing top talent for the country, striving to make breakthroughs in key core technologies, boosting the country's competitiveness internationally, and optimizing management and evaluation mechanisms, said a MOE's official, suggesting that the government will increase investment in basic research and emerging interdisciplinary subjects.

Of note is that Peking University and Tsinghua University are empowered to develop disciplines at their own discretion during this time.

Peking and Tsinghua were the only two Chinese mainland's universities in the top 100 of four prominent global rankings for the world's top universities in 2015, when the country first conceived the initiative.

Since then, more and more Chinese universities have joined those global lists, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, and the University of Science and Technology of China.

Last year, Chinese mainland's universities dominated in the Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2021, with a total of 91 universities coming from Chinese mainland in the ranking.

Prior to the updated list, an important policy concerning further implementation of the Double First-class Initiative was released by the MOE, in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission.

The policy attaches great importance to the cultivation of strategic sci-tech talent in key core fields and first-class leading talent and innovative teams.

International cooperation is also greatly highlighted in the policy, calling for further promoting of high-level opening and cooperation, and deeply integrating into the global innovation network, while actively participating in the research of major global issues.

Internationally competitive and attractive high-end platforms, resources, and environment will be provided, so as to attract global talent coming to work in China, as per the policy.