Education Highlights from China’s 2025 Two Sessions
- Rose Li, XL Law & Consulting
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
The 2025 Government Work Report emphasizes integration of vocational education and general (i.e., non-vocational) education, further “opening up” of the education sector, and support for foreign investment.
In March, China held its annual plenary sessions, termed the Two Sessions, of the National People’s Congress (“NPC,” China’s top legislature) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (“NCCPPCC,” China’s top political advisory body). The 2025 Government Work Report (“Report”) was approved at the closing meeting of the NPC on March 11.
Education, from preschool to higher education, is mentioned many times in the Report, which describes a series of policies and measures that China plans to implement in its continued efforts to develop a high-quality educational system in the country. Here are the education highlights from the Report:
The Report proposes “increasing the supply of senior secondary school places” and “promoting free preschool education in a phased way,” both of which are seen as key measures to optimize the educational system and ease the pressure on families with children. At present, China is facing the dual challenges of a declining birth rate and an uneven distribution of educational resources. Free preschool education is expected to reduce the cost of education, while the expansion of senior secondary school places will ease competition for spots obtained through the high school entrance examination and provide diversified development paths for a larger number of students.
The Report states that China will strengthen the standardization of compulsory education schools and promote development of high-quality compulsory education.
The Report also includes support for “advancing integrated development of vocational education and general education as well as collaboration between industries and schools to help make vocational education more adaptable.” For example, Inner Mongolia plans to integrate resources to establish vocational undergraduate programs, and Chongqing has implemented a vocational education undergraduate program, which aims to develop highly skilled personnel for industrial upgrading.
According to the Report, China will move ahead with reforms of higher education institutions on a categorized basis, expanding quality undergraduate education, accelerating the development of world-class universities and academic disciplines, and giving universities more latitude to make adjustments to academic disciplines and talent training models.
Implications for U.S. Higher Education Institutions
According to the current foreign investment negative list, U.S. institutions are allowed to invest in preschool education, high school education, higher education, and vocational education. In China, vocational education is still generally considered “low-level education.” Although the newly revised PRC Vocational Education Law clearly stipulates that “vocational education is a type of education that has the same importance as general education,” Chinese society still does not regard vocational education as equivalent to general (i.e., non-vocational) education, and the belief that vocational secondary education is inferior to general secondary education and that vocational undergraduate education is inferior to general undergraduate education is still deeply rooted. The Report emphasizes advancing integrated development of vocational education and general education. This seems to signal that China will continue to implement policies and measures to promote vocational education. In January, for example, China issued the Approval for the Temporary Adjustment of the Implementation in Beijing of the Provisions of Relevant Administrative Regulations and Departmental Rules, which now permits the establishment of for-profit vocational training institutions on a wholly foreign-invested basis in Beijing. U.S. institutions that are interested in investing in vocational education in China can expect supportive policies to be implemented in this area.
In addition, the Report emphasizes expanding the “opening up” of the telecommunications, medical services, and education sectors and stabilizing foreign investment. To support foreign investment, China says it is committed to ensuring equal treatment for foreign enterprises, particularly in key areas like access to resources, qualifications, and government procurement. This follows on the heels of China’s February release of its 2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment, which outlined key measures to attract and retain foreign investment by expanding market access and increasing efforts to promote investment. These measures will increase opportunities for U.S. institutions that intend to invest in or expand their investment in China.
