The year 2025 marks a pivotal moment for China’s educational reform agenda. It is the first full year of implementing the 2024–2035 Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education, a long-term blueprint aimed at building a high-quality, equitable, and innovation-driven education system. To translate strategy into action, the MOE rolled out a three-year action plan, supported by a series of targeted reforms. Rather than sweeping, one-size-fits-all changes, the MOE adopted a “small-entry-point” approach, piloting reforms in focused areas to generate broader, system-wide impact. Over the past year, two rounds of pilots spanning six categories and 41 initiatives have taken root, producing visible results and accelerating progress toward long-term goals.

From curriculum reform and student well-being to university restructuring and vocational education, the following ten reform themes have emerged as defining features of China’s education landscape in 2025.

1. Whole-of-society civic and values education

One of the most discussed reforms in 2025 is the push to build an all-encompassing civic-and-values education framework. The idea is to move beyond the boundaries of a single course and treat civic learning as an umbrella that integrates schools, communities, cultural institutions, and online platforms.

Students participate in structured learning experiences in museums, memorial sites, research centers, and local communities. These activities are embedded into curriculum objectives rather than treated as add-ons, helping students connect abstract concepts with real-world contexts, and understand how the Party’s history and achievement and the country’s successes are narrated and interpreted.

More than 550 national-level locations for this educational model have been designated, giving rise to formats such as “walking classrooms” and “civic and values education in cultural venues,” making the learning experience more immersive and practice-oriented.

2. Two hours of daily physical activity

Student health has become a central reform priority. Schools are now required to ensure that primary and secondary school students engage in no less than two hours of physical activity each day.

To meet this goal, schools have redesigned schedules, increased physical education time, extended recess, often to 15 minutes, and expanded extracurricular sports. The reform reflects a broader shift toward viewing physical and mental well-being as core indicators of educational quality.

3. Rebalancing university disciplines and degree programs

China has accelerated reforms to adjust and optimize university disciplines and majors, aligning higher education more closely with national development priorities and labor-market demand.

New programs have been introduced in areas such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, digital economy, regional and country studies, Party capacity-building, and interdisciplinary research. Since 2023, universities have added 1,129 doctoral programs, 2,294 master’s programs, and 3,715 undergraduate programs and 12,000 vocational majors, while phasing out outdated offerings.

4. Turning university research into economic impact

Strengthening the application and commercialization of university research has become a key reform focus. Regional technology-transfer hubs have been established in Beijing, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, and other regions.

These hubs provide one-stop platforms linking universities, enterprises, investors, and local governments. In December 2025, China launched a national online platform for university research transfer, aimed at moving scientific results more efficiently from laboratories into real-world applications.

5. Training elite engineers for industries of strategic importance

The MOE has expanded programs to cultivate high-level engineers capable of solving complex, real-world problems. These programs emphasize deep integration between universities and industry, with students alternating between academic study and enterprise-based projects.

In fields such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, universities and companies jointly recruit students, design curricula, supervise research, and share outcomes. A new national accreditation standard released in December 2025 signals a move toward more standardized and internationally comparable engineering education.

6. Revitalizing county-level senior high schools

To narrow urban–rural education gaps, China has launched a comprehensive initiative to strengthen county-level senior high schools. The focus is on improving infrastructure and facilities, stabilizing teacher teams, upgrading teaching quality, and expanding access to digital resources.

By raising the quality of local high schools, the reform aims to give rural students greater access to quality education close to home, while supporting balanced development in compulsory education and contributing to broader rural revitalization efforts.

7. One year of free preschool education

Beginning in the autumn of 2025, China introduced one year of free preschool education for children enrolled in public kindergartens, with subsidies extended to eligible private providers.

The policy reduces financial pressure on families and reflects a growing recognition of early childhood education as a foundation for long-term learning. Central and local governments share the cost, with additional support for less-developed regions.

8. Expanding access to quality undergraduate education

Known as “quality-focused undergraduate expansion,” this reform increases enrollment at leading universities while emphasizing academic standards.

New places are concentrated in strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, biotechnology, new energy, and interdisciplinary studies. Universities are investing in new campuses, student housing, residential colleges, and innovative teaching models to ensure that expansion does not compromise quality.

9. A new phase of vocational education excellence

China has launched a new phase of vocational education reform focused on high institutional capacity and high-quality integration with industry.

Rather than prioritizing facilities alone, vocational institutions are now evaluated on how well they serve industrial development and regional economic needs. Nearly 80% of specialized program clusters are aligned with strategic and advanced manufacturing sectors, reinforcing vocational education’s role in economic transformation.

10. Building education communities around students

The concept of “education communities” brings together schools, families, local governments, community organizations, and social institutions to support students’ holistic development.

These communities share responsibility for student well-being, safety, learning, and growth. Coordinated platforms support activities ranging from sports and arts to science education, labor education, social practice, and after-school services, creating a supportive ecosystem around each student.