Undergraduate Education

Abstract

Undergraduate education in China is equivalent to the ISCED 1997’s definition of Level 5—first stage of tertiary education, which has been a cornerstone of the higher education system in terms of its scale and importance. Undergraduate enrollments have consistently made up the bulk of higher education enrollments, and only very recently, they decreased to approximately half of the total higher education enrollments. Undergraduate programs have shouldered the immense responsibilities of producing advanced manpower for leadership and managerial positions in the government and business sectors, as well as technological experts, professional personnel, and researchers. In recent years, the rapid expansion of undergraduate education also provided advanced manpower for the growing sector of tertiary industry, particularly the high-tech service sector. Over nearly sixty years of development, undergraduate education in China has seen a great transformation in its missions and programs, curricula, modes of education, and management system of teaching.