The State Council has issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for Education Development, outlining the goals, key tasks, and policy measures for building a strong education nation over the next five years.
The plan sets the target of achieving significant results in building a strong education nation by 2030 and basically establishing a high-quality education system. As a mid-term blueprint linking the Outline of the Plan for Building a Strong Education Nation (2024-2035) and the Three-Year Action Plan for Accelerating the Building of a Strong Education Nation (2025-2027), the plan is an important part of the national 15th Five-Year Plan system.
Ma Xiaoqiang, director of the Institute of Education Statistics and Analysis at the China Academy of Educational Sciences, said the plan consolidates the foundation and makes comprehensive efforts to ensure the coordination of near-, mid-, and long-term goals in building a strong education nation.
To address demographic changes, regional coordinated development, and the construction of a modern industrial system, the plan deploys a dedicated chapter on education layout for the first time. Zhang Zhiyong, director of the National High-End Think Tank Education Survey Center at Beijing Normal University, noted that the plan establishes a population forecasting and early warning mechanism to expand educational resources in towns with net inflow and weak areas, while taking advantage of declining student numbers after the demographic peak to raise the level of per-student resource guarantees.
The plan also aims to enhance education's capacity to serve economic and social development. Li Liguo, a professor at the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University, cited examples such as promoting a new round of Double First-Class construction, launching the Double Excellence construction for high-level application-oriented undergraduate universities, and accelerating the New Double High construction in vocational education, all designed to guide universities to develop distinctive features and levels, strengthening their support for technology and talent.
The plan emphasizes pragmatism and implementability. Ma Xiaoqiang stated that the plan focuses on key areas and crucial links, proposing 5 strategic tasks and 6 reform measures, and setting 15 major projects in a special column, including the Chinese Original Philosophy and Social Science Key Textbook Construction Plan, the National Interdisciplinary Center Construction Plan, and the Basic Education Foundation Plan, with supporting quantitative targets to ensure their implementation.