China academic education series is divided into general education series, national education series and non-national education series. The series of general education refers to the series of middle and higher education continued by compulsory education and enrolled by the state. National education series refers to five major education, adult education, TV University education, self-taught education, amateur education and correspondence education. The above two kinds of educational series are all educational series approved by the state for filing and recognition of academic qualifications.

It can be seen that adult education series is a kind of education form of national education series. It is a form of national education to adopt a unified local entrance examination, and the provincial and municipal education departments are in charge and issue a unified graduation certificate for adult education recognized by the state.

Adult education refers to a form of education different from ordinary full-time teaching. Adult education is not limited by age and sex. Through this educational process, people who are regarded as adults in society can increase their abilities, enrich their knowledge, improve their technical and professional qualifications, or turn them to a new direction, thus changing their attitudes and behaviors in two aspects: their all-round development and their participation in the balanced and independent development of social economy and culture. There are four main forms of adult continuing education qualifications, namely, higher education self-study examination (self-taught examination), online education (distance education), adult college entrance examination (full-time, amateur, correspondence) and radio and television university (modern distance open education of TV University).