Since the reform and opening up, in order to meet the vast social needs, China has implemented multi-level higher education:

(1) General higher education (unified enrollment), which is commonly called regular university;

(2) higher education self-study exam;

(3) Adult college entrance examination;

(4) Distance education (network education).

Although these academic qualifications are obtained through different channels and forms, they are all recognized by the state and can be further studied: they can be promoted to undergraduate courses, take postgraduate examinations, get bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, go abroad, apply for jobs, get promoted and get a raise. However, there are differences in social recognition. In other words, when you apply for a job with academic qualifications, the personnel section chief will definitely not treat different levels of academic qualifications equally, and generally divide the gold content of academic qualifications into grades. The highest gold content is the degree of unified recruitment, followed by self-taught examination, night university, distance education and TV University.

Diplomas at all levels are also different. There are the words "general higher education" for the degree of unified recruitment, "higher education self-study examination" for the certificate of self-study examination, "adult education" for the degree of adult education, "distance education" for the distance (network) education, and "Central TV University" or provincial TV University for the degree of RTVU.