At a press conference on the theme of “Getting Started with the 15th Five-Year Plan” series held by the Information Office of the State Council today, Guo Peng, director of the Development Planning Department of the Ministry of Education, explained that in 2025, China's gross enrolment rate in higher education reached 61.3%, and the total number of students enrolled reached 48.73 million. We have achieved a historic leap from elitization and popularization to popularization. Facing the largest higher education system in the world, there must be no single track or model; classification policies must be adopted to better utilize the functions of various colleges and universities and better adapt to the diverse needs of the economy and society. Classification promotes college reform. Classification is the method, reform is the driving force, and development is the purpose. Classification is not hierarchical, but rather divided into tracks. The general direction is to guide the scientific positioning of colleges and universities with basic positions such as research, application, and skill; to guide the scientific positioning of colleges and universities; to promote the characteristic development of various colleges and universities such as science, agriculture, humanities and social sciences, arts and sports, and teacher training through improving differentiated policy support, thereby optimizing the college layout structure and talent training structure. While promoting the characteristics of colleges and universities, this reform places special emphasis on contribution orientation, thereby stimulating momentum for classification development. Research colleges and universities should focus on supporting the country's major strategic needs. In the new round of “double first-class” construction, it will further strengthen the forward-looking layout led by the national mission and strategy, guide research universities to strengthen their interface with the country's strategic goals and strategic tasks, consolidate major scientific and technological issues and research fields, strengthen basic cutting-edge exploration and breakthroughs in key technologies, and build a major strategic support force to serve the country. Applied colleges and universities should focus on serving the high-quality development of the region. The Ministry of Education is planning a “double excellence” construction plan with the goal of high academic ability and excellent regional economic and social development. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, it will support the construction of about 200 high-level applied undergraduate colleges and several high-quality specialty majors, create a highland for training talents in applied basic research, technological innovation and applied innovation, and serve the construction of a regional innovation system. Skill-based colleges and universities should focus on closely connecting with the frontline of production practices. Promote the “New Double High” construction plan, lead and drive the development of skilled colleges and universities, build strong urban industry-education consortia and industry-industry-education integration communities, closely connect with key areas in advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, promote deep collaboration and linkage between campuses, schools, and enterprises, and send a large number of highly skilled talents to the frontline of the industry. The next step will be to strengthen policy supply, speed up the establishment of classification management and classification evaluation mechanisms, improve the incentive mechanism for resource allocation, accelerate the construction of a self-improving and superior higher education system, and better support and serve Chinese-style modernization.

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