The Ministry of Education on Jan 30 released the first National Standards on Teaching Quality in Colleges and Universities, as part of China’s efforts to meet the global trend of improving the quality of talent.

The ministry said the standards are important to build a high-level system with Chinese characteristics.

The report involves 587 majors and over 56,000 colleges and universities.

The report was developed by the ministry’s Teaching Advisory Board after a four-year study involving more than 5,000 experts and academicians from the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The ministry said that through the standards, China hopes to raise its universities to world-class levels.