Since 2012, Shanghai municipal government has taken the lead in deepening educational reform and carrying out a comprehensive reform of the college entrance examination system, improving education at all levels and of all types.

The National Education Conference mapped the way forward for educational reform in the new era. Shanghai will follow the principles set out at the conference and invest maximum effort in the following two areas:

(i) Developing an integrated moral education system covering all education levels by focusing on the understanding and recognition of the country’s political system, national identity, cultural confidence and developing a healthy personality; and seeking synergy between ideological and political publicity and other curricula; and

(ii) Promoting high quality development of education at different levels through a number of measures, including ensuring both quality and equity in compulsory education, enhancing the training of high-end talent as the major function of tertiary education while promoting basic research as a source of innovation, and strengthening teacher advancement by improving ethics in the teaching profession and establishing innovative management and incentive mechanisms for teachers.