First of all, the Minister of Education is a minister. I think it is almost meaningless whether it is equivalent to imperial academy in the Qing Dynasty.

In Qing Dynasty, imperial academy was the literary institution of the emperor, responsible for compiling, sorting out and reviewing documents such as imperial edicts, imperial poems and historical books. Members of the Hanlin Academy, known as "Hanlin Bachelor", are one of the elite civil servants in the Qing Dynasty and enjoy high social status and prestige.

Functionally, the Hanlin Academy is equivalent to an expert institution in the fields of culture, education, literature and art, publishing and so on. Such as Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, Chinese Writers Association, China Publishing Association, etc.