"Several Opinions on Further Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions") was recently issued by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission. With the permission of the State Council, the list of "double-first-class" universities and construction disciplines was upgraded and announced, and a new round of construction was launched in an all-round way.
There are 147 colleges and universities in the published roster. Among the construction disciplines, there are 59 basic disciplines such as mathematical thinking, physics, organic chemistry and molecular biology, engineering 180 and 92 philosophy and social sciences. The disciplines independently built by Peking University and Tsinghua are published independently.
In order to improve the driving force of construction and improve the restraint mechanism, some disciplines with incomplete prediction of the first round of construction results and relative comparison with similar disciplines in terms of overall development trend level, working ability of sustainable development concept and development and upgrading level are given a warning. Relevant disciplines should strengthen rectification, acceptance in 2023, and re-evaluation. By then, idle land will be transferred to the construction category.
The Opinions mentioned that it is necessary to speed up the training of high-end talents, for example, to strengthen the training of interdisciplinary talents in important industries such as electronic devices, artificial intelligence technology, energy storage and digital economy. Strengthen the construction of applied disciplines, such as intelligent manufacturing, electric power and energy transportation, modern agriculture, public health service and pharmacy, new generation information technology, service industry and other applied disciplines with strong social demand, broad development prospects and a large number of outstanding talents.
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Education said that the second round of construction roster will no longer distinguish between first-class universities and first-class discipline construction universities, and it will be one of the keys to explore the establishment of classified development trends, classified applications and classified comments, and correctly guide the construction universities to further focus their vitality on independent innovation and essential upgrading of related industries and directions, so as to build a truly world-class university.