[Numbers in the Yangtze River Delta] What should I do if there are no famous schools in the area? These cities are so "volunteous" for universities

Recently, many colleges in the Yangtze River Delta have changed their names to universities:

Hefei University was renamed Hefei University, Bengbu Medical College was renamed Bengbu Medical University, Zhejiang Institute of Science and Technology was renamed Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Jiaxing College was renamed Jiaxing University...

Although there is only one word difference, "college" and "university" have different setting standards in terms of school scale, disciplines and majors, teaching staff, infrastructure, school funding and other dimensions. In terms of public opinion, it is also generally believed that "university" is of a higher level than "college". Especially for Hefei, it has always been a dream to have a university named after its own city.

Therefore, behind the name changes of these colleges, there is actually hidden competition among various regions in the Yangtze River Delta for university resources.

The number of higher education institutions in the Yangtze River Delta region accounts for nearly 20% of the country's total, and there are many famous schools: On the second round of "double first-class" construction universities and disciplines list released by the Ministry of Education in 2022, 37 universities in the Yangtze River Delta are on the list, accounting for the total 1/4 of the C9 alliance; my country’s first C9 alliance composed of top universities, more than half of the members are from the Yangtze River Delta universities.

Among them, there are two heavyweight “big markets” for universities—Shanghai and Nanjing. The number of undergraduate universities in Shanghai has reached 37, while that in Nanjing is 34. The number of double first-class universities is 13 in both. There are 22 affiliated universities in the entire Yangtze River Delta region, including 9 in Shanghai and 8 in Nanjing.

Under the "Two Super Leagues", even the second-tier universities in Hangzhou and Hefei are somewhat lacking in strength. There are 28 undergraduate universities in Hangzhou, but there are only two double-first-class universities, Zhejiang University and China Academy of Art. There are 19 universities in Hefei, but only 3 are double-first-class universities, namely University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei University of Technology and Anhui University.

Among the remaining cities, only Suzhou, Ningbo, Xuzhou and Wuxi have one double-first-class university each.

Almost all university resources in various places are concentrated in provincial capitals. This is also common practice across the country. However, for a region like the Yangtze River Delta with many economically powerful cities and developed county economies, this distribution of university resources will inevitably make some cities dissatisfied.

Take Su, Wuchang and Changzhou, which are at the forefront of economic development in the entire Yangtze River Delta region, as an example. The combined number of undergraduate colleges and universities in these three cities is less than half that of Nanjing. In the Central Jiangsu and Northern Jiangsu regions that have emerged in recent years, only Xuzhou has one double-first-class university, and Nantong, which has been promoted to the GDP trillion club, has only three undergraduate universities.

What the Yangtze River Delta is most interested in university resources is probably Hefei, as the provincial capital and a city with a trillion-dollar economy. Although the "city of venture capital" has experienced outstanding economic development in recent years, in terms of university resources, it is not considered at all. Strengthen the provincial capital.

What should I do if there is no local university or famous school?

Then "build" one! The reason for adding quotation marks is that most cities do not build a new university from scratch, but find ways to add some higher-level universities, research institutes and other scientific research and education institutions with higher educational levels and stronger scientific research capabilities.

For example, as mentioned at the beginning, upgrading a college to a university is one way, and there is also the introduction of off-site branch campuses from famous schools.

As early as 2007, Suzhou introduced Renmin University of China and established the Renmin University Suzhou Campus. Two years later, the Renmin University Suzhou Campus officially began to recruit full-time students. In the following ten years, major universities established more than 20 branch campuses, research institutes and other scientific research institutions in Suzhou, and most of them were 985 universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Harbin Institute of Technology, etc.

In recent years, the rising stars in the Yangtze River Delta seem to be more anxious, and cities in central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu, Anhui and other cities have made more frequent related actions.

The most typical one is Nantong. In 2021, Nantong established the Nantong base with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and established the Nantong Research Institute with Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology. In December 2023, it signed a contract with Southeast University to build the Nantong campus and the Institute of Marine Advanced Research.

Huai'an and Lianyungang are also actively developing school-site cooperation with universities in the province or running schools in other places. Since 2023, the Huai'an Municipal Government has also signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Nanjing Normal University and Huaiyin Normal University to pair up the north and the south to jointly build universities. Previously, Huai'an signed a contract with Nanjing University of Science and Technology in 2021 to cooperate in establishing the Xuyi campus. In November 2023, Lianyungang signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with Nanjing Normal University to promote the collaborative innovation and development of local marine economy, biomedicine and other industries.

In Anhui, Hefei has newly established the Anhui Public Security College, a public institution that recruits undergraduate students. Chuzhou, located in the Hefei metropolitan area, also cooperated with Anhui University in May 2023 to establish an off-site Chuzhou Research Institute.

In addition, Jiaxing, Zhejiang is also very interested in university cooperation. Before Jiaxing College was upgraded to Jiaxing University, Jiaxing cooperated with many double-first-class universities such as Tongji University and Beijing Institute of Technology, signing comprehensive strategic cooperation or establishing a Yangtze River Delta Research Institute.

Cities participating in the battle for colleges and universities today may face more intense competition and more challenges.

In 2021, the Ministry of Education issued the "Opinions on the Establishment of Colleges and Universities during the "14th Five-Year Plan" Period, requiring strict control of off-site running of colleges and universities, especially the off-site running of colleges and universities across provinces.

This means that for cities that want to break through the resources of colleges and universities today, resources for strong schools have become even more scarce.

The other way to upgrade local schools is not easy either. Judging from the institutions that have been transferred and upgraded in the Yangtze River Delta region in the past 20 years published on the official website of the Ministry of Education, most of them are concentrated in cities with rich academic resources. For example, in Shanghai, 8 institutions have been transferred to universities in the past 20 years. Ten local colleges and universities in Hangzhou have been transferred and upgraded, accounting for more than 60% of all upgraded colleges and universities in Zhejiang Province. In addition, 4 colleges and universities in Nanjing have been upgraded.

Correspondingly, in the past two years, many cities in northern Jiangsu and Anhui have had their applications for upgrading local institutions stranded. For example, in 2023, Anhui Chuzhou and Wuhu respectively hoped to upgrade their local Anhui Institute of Science and Technology to a university, and Wannan Medical College to Wannan Medical University, but they have not yet passed the approval.

However, in the face of challenges, the attitude of developing universities in various parts of the Yangtze River Delta is still very firm.

In Jiangsu Province’s “14th Five-Year Plan” planning document, it is mentioned that “priority will be given to support the planning and establishment of higher education institutions in central Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu.” As Nanjing has the richest university resources in the province, it continues to export new campuses to many cities in the province, including the aforementioned Southeast University Nantong Campus, Nanjing Normal University’s cooperation with Huai’an and Lianyungang, etc.

Anhui’s idea is also to make Hefei bigger and stronger first, and to have in-depth cooperation with universities in the province. "Anhui Province's "14th Five-Year Plan" Education Development Plan" mentions: "Support Anhui Normal University, Anhui University of Science and Technology, and Anhui University of Finance and Economics to establish advanced research institutes in Hefei. Focus on building 8 characteristic high-level universities and a number of advantageous and characteristic disciplines majors, 9 high-level application-oriented universities and a number of brand-name applied majors.”

Zhejiang’s “14th Five-Year Plan” education plan proposes to add one new double-first-class university by 2025, and at the same time introduce five new domestic famous universities to operate schools in Zhejiang.

Under more intense competition, it is also testing how various localities can better match the development of industrial economy, science, education, and talents, and explore and fully implement more beneficial models for the construction and development of universities.