China has initiated a groundbreaking reform of its higher education system by establishing a rapid-response mechanism for creating doctoral and master’s degree programs in strategic fields critical to national development. The Ministry of Education announced this transformative approach on Thursday, marking a significant shift in how academic programs are designed and implemented.
The newly established ‘ultra-fast layout’ approval process, overseen by the State Council’s academic degrees committee, enables real-time responsiveness to the country’s escalating demand for elite professionals in science, technology, and emerging industrial sectors. This reform directly addresses the intensified global technological revolution and industrial transformation currently underway.
Under this innovative framework, degree-granting programs can be immediately initiated and fast-tracked through approval processes specifically tailored to address urgent national needs. A pilot program launched in June demonstrated this approach’s effectiveness when authorities rapidly authorized 24 universities with independent degree-audit qualifications to establish programs supporting the development of China’s low-altitude economy.
The comprehensive framework features robust inter-departmental coordination targeting strategic emerging industries, future industries, and modern services. To further enhance alignment between talent supply and demand, expert panels will propose new discipline names and application criteria outside standard graduate education catalogs.
Concurrently, the government continues expanding the roster of universities granted ‘autonomous review’ status, a policy initiated in 2017 to increase institutional independence. Currently, 38 universities hold this privileged status, which has already resulted in 441 new doctoral programs and 454 master’s programs, particularly in pioneering fields including integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, digital economy, and low-altitude technology.
The future expansion will implement a classified, tiered approach designed to encourage universities to develop distinctive strengths while optimizing discipline structures, thereby preventing homogenization and maintaining educational quality across China’s higher education landscape.