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 Ministry of Education acts as the predominant funder of national universities and colleges in China. The ministry also accredits tertiary institutions, degree curriculum, and school teachers of the country.
The Ministry of Education currently has 19 internal departments and bureaus. , there were 75 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education.
History
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.
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.
In June 1970, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to abolish the Ministry of Education and establish the Science and Education Group of the State Council.
The Ministry of Education was restored after the disruptions of the Cultural Revolution in 1975 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. Its guidelines on environmental education emphasized firsthand experience and recommended that a quarter of environmental education content should consist of "practice activities".
Since 2019, the Ministry of Education's Institute for a Community with Shared Future (ICSF), hosted at the Communication University of China, has served to promote the concept of "community of a share future for mankind" internationally through multiple affiliated research centers in several countries.
Development of the political counselor system
In 1952, the Ministry of Education sought to develop a system of political counselors as a pilot program in universities. Tsinghua University established a political counselor program in 1953, becoming the first university to do so.
See also
- Education in China
- History of education in China
- List of universities in China
- English Medium Medical Schools
- Guozijian