Project 985

Project 985 (Chinese: 985工程; pinyin: 985 Gōngchéng) was a terminated project that was first announced by General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin at the 100th anniversary of Peking University on May 4, 1998, to promote the development and reputation of the Chinese higher education system by founding world-class universities in the 21st century.[1] The name derives from the date of the announcement, May 1998, or 98/5 according to the Chinese date format.[2] The project involves both national and local governments allocating large amounts of funding to certain universities in order to build new research centers, improve facilities, hold international conferences, attract world-renowned faculty and visiting scholars, and help Chinese faculty attend conferences abroad.[3]

Universities of Project 985
Formation4 May 1998 (1998-05-04)
Founded atPeking University, Beijing, China
Defunct2014 (2014)
TypePublic Universities, National Key Universities
Legal statusMinistry of Education of the People's Republic of China
Region served
China
Membership
39 Chinese Universities

History of the People's
Republic of China (PRC)
National emblem of the People's Republic of China
Mao era
Transition and Deng era
Jiang and the third generation
Hu and the fourth generation
Xi and the fifth generation
History of
Generations of leadership
flag China portal

History

On May 4, 1998, a project that was first announced by General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin at the 100th anniversary of Peking University to promote the development and reputation of the Chinese higher education system by founding world-class universities in the 21st century.[1]

In 2006, another 33 universities were selected from universities that had not been included in Project 985. The 33 selected universities were jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China to support their developments in certain scientific or engineering subjects to meet the urgent need of the state. These 33 universities together were included in a sub-project of Project 985, called the "985 Project Innovation Platform Project".[1][4]

In 2009, the original nine founding member universities of Project 985 formed the C9 League.[3][5] By the end of the second phase of the project, 39 universities were sponsored. It was announced in 2011 that the project had closed, and no new schools would be able to join.[6]

In 2014, some universities of Project 985 claimed that the project funding had been stopped in 2013.[7]

In October 2015, the State Council of P.R.China published the 'Overall Plan for Promoting the Construction of World First-Class Universities and First-Class Disciplines (Double First Class University Plan)' and made new arrangements for the development of higher education in China.[8]

In 2016, the Ministry of Education of China confirmed that Project 985 had been abolished and replaced by the Double First Class University Plan.[9][10]

In September 2017, a related plan started in 2015 called the Double First Class University Plan was formally announced; 140 universities were included in this plan, representing a reshuffle in the rankings of China's most prestigious universities.[11]

In 2019, the Ministry of Education of China reconfirmed that the Project 985 had been repealed and replaced by the Double First-Class University Plan.[12]

Admissions

The Project 985 universities were elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination ("Gaokao") for undergraduate programs.[13][14][15]

Rankings and reputation

Project 985 members were classified as doctoral universities with very high research activities among all Chinese universities,[16] regarded as the tier 1 universities out of more than 3,000 higher education institutions in China,[17][15][18] and viewed as some of the most prestigious universities of all Chinese universities and consistently ranked among the best in the world,[19][20] while a few Project 985 universities were added into the project for 'aid the poor' and 'nationality policies' reasons.[21][22] 35 Project 985 universities ranked in the top 40 nationwide, including 33 at the top of the 2023 Best Chinese University Rankings.[23]

As of 2022, 32 universities in the former Project 985 ranked in the top 300, including 24 top 200 universities and 8 top 100 universities according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities.[24] As of 2022, 33 universities were ranked in the top 500 by the AppliedHE Rankometer, a composite ranking system combining five of the world's most influential university rankings, namely, ARWU, QS, THE, CWTS Leiden Ranking, and Webometrics Ranking.[25] In the Nature Index Annual Table 2022, which evaluated the largest collections of articles published in 82 of the world's leading high-quality scientific journals,[26] 30 universities in the former Project 985 ranked in the global top 200, including 23 in the top 100, 13 in the top 50, and 8 in the top 20.[27]

Project 985 universities have been compared to other elite university projects or groupings worldwide, such as UK Russell Group universities, Association of American Universities' sixty members, Canada's U15, and German Universities Excellence Initiative.[28][1] Former Project 985 universities as a grouping have been rapidly catching up with other elite groupings in terms of global rankings.[29][30][20][31]

List of sponsored universities
See also: List of universities in China

39 Project 985 universities were sponsored by the Ministry of Education.[32][33] All the universities of the former Project 985 are members of several categories of national key universities and the current Double First Class University Plan, representing China's most prestigious universities.[34]

Province/Municipality City University Year Founded
North (10)
Beijing (8) Beijing (8) Peking UniversityC9 1898
Tsinghua UniversityC9 1911
Renmin University of China 1937
Beijing Normal University 1902
Beihang University 1952
Beijing Institute of Technology 1940
China Agricultural University 1905
Minzu University of China 1941
Tianjin (2) Tianjin (2) Nankai University 1919
Tianjin University 1895
Northeast (4)
Liaoning (2） Dalian Dalian University of Technology 1949
Shenyang Northeastern University 1923
Heilongjiang Harbin Harbin Institute of TechnologyC9 1920
Jilin Changchun Jilin University 1946
East (11)
Shanghai (4) Shanghai (4) Fudan UniversityC9 1905
Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityC9 1896
Tongji University 1907
East China Normal University 1951
Jiangsu (2) Nanjing (2) Nanjing UniversityC9 1902
Southeast University 1902
Shandong (2) Jinan Shandong University 1901
Qingdao Ocean University of China 1924
Anhui Hefei University of Science and Technology of ChinaC9 1958
Zhejiang Hangzhou Zhejiang UniversityC9 1897
Fujian Xiamen Xiamen University 1921
South (2)
Guangdong (2) Guangzhou (2) Sun Yat-sen University 1924
South China University of Technology 1952
Central (5)
Hunan (3) Changsha (3) Hunan University 1903
Central South University 2000
National University of Defense Technology 1953
Hubei (2) Wuhan (2) Wuhan University 1893
Huazhong University of Science and Technology 1953
Northwest (4)
Shaanxi (3) Xi'an (2) Northwestern Polytechnical University 1938
Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityC9 1896
Xianyang Northwest A&F University 1934
Gansu Lanzhou Lanzhou University 1909
Southwest (3)
Sichuan (2) Chengdu (2) Sichuan University 1896
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China 1956
Chongqing Chongqing Chongqing University 1929

Note: C9 represents the university included in the C9 League.

See also

References
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  2. "Project 211 and 985". China Education Center Ltd. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  3. "International Rankings and Chinese Higher Education Reform". World Education News and Reviews. Archived from the original on June 27, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  4. Li, Jian; Xue, Eryong (2021), Li, Jian; Xue, Eryong (eds.), "The Policy Analysis of Creating World-Class Universities in China", Creating World-Class Universities in China : Ideas, Policies, and Efforts, Singapore: Springer, pp. 1–33, doi:10.1007/978-981-16-6726-8_1, ISBN 978-981-16-6726-8, S2CID 240467383, archived from the original on April 17, 2022
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