Project 985

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 are 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 are 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 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.[7]

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.[8]

In 2019, the Ministry of Education of China reconfirmed that the Project 985 had been coordinated into the Double First-Class University Plan.[9]

The Project 985 universities are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination ("Gaokao") for undergraduate programs.[10][11][12]

Project 985 members are regarded as the tier 1 universities in China,[13][12] and viewed as some of the most prestigious universities of all Chinese universities and consistently rank among the best in the world.[14][15] As of 2021, seven, 23, and 35 members were ranked in the top 100, the top 200, and the top 500 globally, respectively, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as "Shanghai Ranking".[16]

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.[17][1] Project 985 universities as a grouping have been rapidly catching up with other elite groupings in terms of global rankings.[18][19][15][20] A significant proportion of their graduates is considered the prerequisite credential for any top government, administrative and corporate position in China.[11][21][22]

39 Project 985 universities are sponsored by the Ministry of Education.[23][24] All the universities of Project 985 are members of several categories of national key universities, including the former Project 211, the former Plan 111, and the current Double First Class University Plan, representing China's most prestigious universities.[25]

• Double First Class University Plan, a scheme for improving 140 of China's top universities
• C9 League, a formal group of 9 elite universities in the China
• Project 211, a former program for developing 110 high-level China's universities
• Excellence League, an alliance of Chinese universities with strong backgrounds in engineering
• Big Four Institutes of Technology
• Yangtze Delta Universities Alliance
• State Key Laboratories
• Plan 111
• 863 Program
• List of universities in China
• Rankings of universities in China