China Education Stats
The Chinese government maintains and controls education in the country through the Ministry of Education. China has 9 years of compulsory education which is funded by the government, including 6 years of primary education, and 3 years in middle school. This can vary from one state to another as there are some states with 5 years and 4 years in the primary and middle school, respectively. Official data reveals that primary education has 99% attendance and 85% attendance in middle school.
The government used to fund education of its citizens from primary to college, but in 1985, the policy was changed in favor of a scholarship system – students wishing to go through senior high school and college must compete for scholarship grants in order to prove their skills and intelligence. This way, the government is assured that they money that they give has little chance of going to waste.
Today, the educational system of China is the largest in the world. It has also attracted the attention of international students, making the country the most popular destination for international studies in Asia, and the third all over the world.
This popularity is attributed to the huge government support to the educational system (at 4% of the country’s GDP), and the fact that the school employs highly qualified and motivated teachers. Teacher aspirants are required to undergo rigid training and long hours of real-classroom observation. Even as professional teachers, they still undergo significant training and re-training with other senior teachers in their respective schools.
Definitions
- Adult literacy rate > Total: Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life."
- Average years of schooling of adults: Average years of schooling of adults is the years of formal schooling received, on average, by adults over age 15. (Data Source: Barro-Lee Data Set www.worldbank.org/html/prdmg/grthweb/ddbarle2.htm)
- Children out of school, primary: Children out of school, primary. Out-of-school children of primary school age. Total is the total number of primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools.
- Children out of school, primary per 1000: Children out of school, primary. Out-of-school children of primary school age. Total is the total number of primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools. Figures expressed per thousand population for the same year.
- Children out of school, primary, female: Children out of school, primary, female. Out-of-school children of primary school age. Female is the total number of female primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools.
- College and university > Gender parity index: Country's gender parity index for college and university enrollment. For countries with a rating of over 1, more females are enrolled while countries with a rating under 1 have more males enrolled.
- Compulsary education duration: Number of years students are required to be enrolled in school for all levels of education. For instance, compulsary education lasts for 12 years in the United States.
- Government spending on education > Proportion of GDP: Percentage of public funding for education out of country's total GDP.
- High school enrolment rate: Progression to secondary school refers to the number of new entrants to the first grade of secondary school in a given year as a percentage of the number of students enrolled in the final grade of primary school in the previous year.
- Literacy > Total population: This entry includes a definition of literacy and Census Bureau percentages for the total population, males, and females. There are no universal definitions and standards of literacy. Unless otherwise specified, all rates are based on the most common definition - the ability to read and write at a specified age. Detailing the standards that individual countries use to assess the ability to read and write is beyond the scope of our source. Information on literacy, while not a perfect measure of educational results, is probably the most easily available and valid for international comparisons.
- Primary education, duration > Years: Primary education, duration (years). Duration of primary is the number of grades (years) in primary education.
- Primary education, teachers per 1000: Primary education, teachers. Teaching staff in primary. Public and private. Full and part-time. All programmes. Total is the total number of teachers in public and private primary education institutions. Teachers are persons employed full time or part time in an official capacity to guide and direct the learning experience of pupils and students, irrespective of their qualifications or the delivery mechanism, i.e. face-to-face and/or at a distance. This definition excludes educational personnel who have no active teaching duties (e.g. headmasters, headmistresses or principals who do not teach) and persons who work occasionally or in a voluntary capacity in educational institutions. Figures expressed per thousand population for the same year.
- Pupil-teacher ratio, primary: Pupil-teacher ratio, primary. Pupil-teacher ratio. Primary is the number of pupils enrolled in primary school divided by the number of primary school teachers.
- Pupil-teacher ratio, secondary: Pupil-teacher ratio, secondary. Pupil-teacher ratio. Secondary is the number of pupils enrolled in secondary school divided by the number of secondary school teachers.
- Secondary education, duration > Years: Secondary education, duration (years). Duration of secondary education is the number of grades (years) in secondary education (ISCED 2 & 3).
SOURCES: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics.; UNESCO; UNESCO Institute for Statistics; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.; United Nations Statistics Division. Source tables; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Source tables; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Source tables; CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011; UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.
Citation
China Education Profiles (Subcategories)
- China has had the highest primary education, teachers since 1970.
- China has ranked last for pupil-teacher ratio, secondary per million since 1970.
- China has had the highest high school teachers since 1990.
- China has had the highest elementary school teachers since 1990.
- China has had the highest children out of school, primary, female since 1991.
- China has had the highest children out of school, primary since 1991.
6
The Chinese government maintains and controls education in the country through the Ministry of Education. China has 9 years of compulsory education which is funded by the government, including 6 years of primary education, and 3 years in middle school. This can vary from one state to another as there are some states with 5 years and 4 years in the primary and middle school, respectively. Official data reveals that primary education has 99% attendance and 85% attendance in middle school.
The government used to fund education of its citizens from primary to college, but in 1985, the policy was changed in favor of a scholarship system – students wishing to go through senior high school and college must compete for scholarship grants in order to prove their skills and intelligence. This way, the government is assured that they money that they give has little chance of going to waste.
Today, the educational system of China is the largest in the world. It has also attracted the attention of international students, making the country the most popular destination for international studies in Asia, and the third all over the world.
This popularity is attributed to the huge government support to the educational system (at 4% of the country’s GDP), and the fact that the school employs highly qualified and motivated teachers. Teacher aspirants are required to undergo rigid training and long hours of real-classroom observation. Even as professional teachers, they still undergo significant training and re-training with other senior teachers in their respective schools.
3
China has repositioned itself in the cross-border provision of higher education. Observers perceive this development as an impending threat to Australia's $15 billion worldwide education sector. The progress of China can be an opportunity for Australia to make the most of its current education-supplier reputation. China is acknowledged as having the biggest education system in the whole world. In fact, there were more than 9 million Chinese students who took the country’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination in 2013. The government’s education ministry estimates that 99.7 percent of China’s populace has availed of the collective basic education of nine years. This is compulsory education for all of Chinese kids nationwide. Higher education is also important for the Chinese in accordance with the theory of socialist modernization.