China's higher education qualifications are divided into three types: general higher education, adult higher education and higher education self-study examination.

General higher education mainly includes full-time general doctoral degree graduate students, full-time general master degree graduate students (including academic masters and professional masters), full-time general second bachelor degree, full-time general undergraduate courses (including four-year and five-year undergraduate courses admitted through college entrance examination and two-year undergraduate courses admitted through unified recruitment examination) and full-time general junior college (higher vocational college). The educational institutions that implement general higher education in China include general full-time undergraduate courses (universities and colleges) and general full-time colleges (higher vocational and technical colleges/vocational colleges and colleges).