By the end of 2004, China had 2,236 schools of Higher Learning, with over 20 million students; the overall rate of university enrollment reached 19 percent. Postgraduate education is the fastest growing sector, with an increase of 24.1and 25.9 percent recruited students and researchers ,respectively, compared to the year before. Rapid enrollment growth indicates that China .There are many famous universities in China, such as Peking university, Tsinghua University and Remin University. etc

has entered the stage of popular education. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization world higher education report of June 2003 pointed out that the population of students in Chinese higher level schools doubled in a very short period of time, and was the world's largest.

A project for creating 100 world class universities began in 1993, which has merged 708 schools of higher learning into 302 universities. Merging of college-level schools was significant push to better higher education management, better allocation of educational resources, and further improvement in teaching quality and school standards. More than 30 universities have received help from a special national fund to support their attainment of world elite class.

Between 1999 and 2003, enrollment in higher education increased from 1.6 million to 3.82 million. In 2004, the total enrollment in ordinary schools of higher learning was 4.473 million, 651,000 more than in 2003. Schools of higher learning and research institutes accepted 326,000 postgraduate students, 57,000 more than the previous year. In 2010 China is expecting 6.3 million students to graduate from College or University, with 63% presumed to enter the work force.

What is the cooperative education?
Higher education institutions were assigned a greater role in running inter-regional and inter-departmental schools. Within their state-approved budgets, universities received more freedom to allocate funds and to use income from tuition and technical and advisory services for their own development, including collective welfare and bonuses.

Owing to a well-established communication channel between universities, they often run inter-university courses. That is to say, students can choose courses in another university, a member of cooperative education system. This cooperation is achieved through negotiation between universities. The reason for inter-university cooperation is that every university has its advantages, through which students can get best education on special modules in case it is not good enough in their own university.

What is scholarship and loan system?

In July 1986 the State Council announced that the stipend system for university and college students would be replaced with a new scholarship and loan system. The new system, to be tested in selected institutions during the 1986-87 academic years, was designed to help students who could not cover their own living expenses but who studied hard, obeyed state laws, and observed discipline codes. Students eligible for financial aid were to apply to the schools and the China Industrial and Commercial Bank for low-interest loans. There are special requirements for the applicants, such as good in study, or preferences to work in poor areas, etc. In 2007, free tuition? were offered at teachers' colleges, and the graduates were required to teach at least ten years in primary or middle schools in western China.

What is studying abroad?

Another way of raising educational quality, particularly in science, was to send students to study abroad. A large number of Chinese students studied in the Soviet Union before late 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, China continued to send a small number of students abroad, primarily to European universities. In October 1978 Chinese students began to arrive in the United

States; their numbers accelerated after normalization of relations between two countries in January 1979. Although figures vary, more than 36,000 students, including 7,000 self-supporting students (those who paid their own way, received scholarships from host institutions, or received help from relatives and "foreign friends"), studied in 14 countries between 1978 and 1984. Of this total, 78 percent were technical personnel sent abroad for advanced study. As of mid-1986 there were 15,000 Chinese scholars and graduates in American universities, compared with the total of 19,000 scholars sent between 1979 and 1983.

Chinese parents and employers have begun to place a high value on overseas education, especially at top American and European institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University, which are "revered" among many middle-class parents. Since 1999, the number of Chinese applicants to top schools overseas has increased tenfold.

What are Chinese tertiary education institutions?
According to the 2002 education report published by the Ministry of Education, by 2002, there were 16 million students at higher education institutions and the gross enrollment rate was 15%.

In the year, 5,428,200 senior secondary school graduates were enrolled into regular universities and advanced vocational colleges. This included

3,205,000 students enrolled into regular higher education institutions and 2,223,200 in adult education institutions, which was 522,200 and 263,900, respectively. The number of students at regular and adult higher education institutions and advanced vocational schools reached 14,625,200, with 9,033,600 at regular universities, 5,591,600 at adult higher education institutions.

In addition, universities and research institutions accepted 202,600 postgraduates, 37,400 more than the year before. The total number of postgraduates at schools reached 501,000, 107,800 more than in the previous year.

In the year of 2003 there were 1,396 regular higher education institutions, 171 more than in the previous year. These include 629 regular universities and 607 adjust universities. The number of universities providing postgraduate courses reached 728.

Besides, there were more than 1,000 private colleges and universities, among which 20 were qualified and authorized to issue diplomas.

China has also developed a self-taught examination system of higher education. Citizens can voluntarily apply to take examinations held by the Government. Diplomas of higher education are conferred to those who pass all the required examinations.

What are universities governments in China?

Colleges and universities in China are administered through a unified control by the Central Government and management at two levels: the Central Government and the provincial governments. The State Council and the Ministry of Education are responsible for taking policy decisions, development plans, reforms and providing guidance to higher education institutions. The Ministry of Education also directly controls 34 regular colleges and universities. Provincial governments’ main responsibility is to manage admission, specialities, fund-raising and employment of graduates of colleges and universities in accordance with national policies and laws.

Higher or tertiary education sector is playing an ever more evident part in China's economic and social development. By strengthening cooperation among production, teaching and research, Chinese government invests in higher education and combines education with practical use, which not only strengthens students’ abilities, but also promotes Chinese development.