The Ministry of Education (MOE), in association with three other competent authorities, recently put forward guidelines to increase the number and improve the quality of public health programs in universities. It was expected that in about 10 years, a number of world-class public health programs with Chinese characteristics would be built, and a high-quality medical education system would take shape to meet the needs of public health in the modern era.

According to the guidelines, top-notch public health schools should be aligned with national strategies, explore the boundaries of science, and endeavor to produce high-calibre public health professionals and promote global health. To this end, the following major measures should be taken: 1) Creating a new paradigm to produce a greater variety of public health professionals at all levels; 2) Building platforms to facilitate public health research and encouraging interdisciplinary research; 3) Exploring new ways to increase the number of qualified public health teachers and encourage them to develop both the practical expertise and teaching skills required for their field; 4) Innovating the forms of and improving the quality of public health service, and enhance the role of think tank-based advisory service; 5) Building a new administrative mechanism for public health schools, strengthening school-enterprise cooperation, and refining teacher evaluation system; 6) Expanding international cooperation, facilitating exchange in education and science, and deeply engaging in the implementation of global health strategies.

The guidelines also specified several detailed measures, such as partnering universities to help building public health schools in the less-developed western and central parts of China, directing more support and resources to public health programs and increasing postgraduate and doctoral enrollment in these programs.