Map showing locations of major universities in mainland China
As of June 2025[update], there were 3,167 colleges and universities, with over 40 million students enrolled inmainland China.[1][2][3] More than 40 million Chinese students graduated from university from 2016 to 2020.[4] Corresponding with the merging of manypublic universities has been the rapid expansion of theprivate sector in mainland China since the 1990s. Although private university enrollments are not clear, one report listed that in 2006 private universities accounted for approximately 6%, or about 1.3 million, of the 20 million students enrolled in formal higher education in China.[5] Thequality of universities andhigher education in China is internationally recognized, as China has established educational cooperation and exchanges with 188 countries and regions and 46 major international organizations, and signed agreements with 54 countries, such as the United States, British, Australia and Germany on mutual recognition of higher education qualifications and academic degrees.[6]
