Project 211

Map of universities of Project 211 in China
Formation	1995; 29 years ago (1995)
Defunct	2016; 8 years ago (2016)
Region	China (115 universities nationwide)

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Project 211 (Chinese: 211工程) was a higher education development and sponsorship scheme of the Chinese central government for preparing approximately 100 universities for the 21st century, initiated in November 1995. There were 115 universities and colleges selected to be part of this program.^[1][2][3][4]

Project 211 and Project 985 were both initiated by the Jiang Zemin Administration in 1990s. They were nullified in 2016 and replaced by the Double First-Class Construction in 2017, under the Xi Jinping Administration.^[5][6]

Etymology

Project 211 was a project of developing comprehensive universities and colleges initiated in 1995 by the then National Education Commission of China, with the intent of raising the research standards of comprehensive universities and cultivating strategies for socio-economic development.^[7]

The name for the project comes from an abbreviation of the slogan "In preparation for the 21st century, successfully running 100 higher education institutions" (面向21世纪，办好100所高校). One hundred was the approximate number of participating universities.^[8]

History

In November 1995, with the approval of the State Council, the then State Planning Commission, the then State Education Commission, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Project 211 Overall Construction Plan" document. This document officially started Project 211.^[9]

In October 2015, the State Council of China published the "Overall Plan for Promoting the Construction of World First Class Universities and First Class Disciplines" (Double First-Class Construction), which made new arrangements for the development of higher education in China, replacing previous higher education projects.^[10]

On June 7, 2016, the Ministry of Education of China under Xi Jinping nullified the two projects by invalidating the fundamental documents "Measures for the Implementation and Management of Project 211 Construction" and "Opinions on the Continued Implementation of Project 985 Construction Projects."^[11][12][13]

On June 27, 2016, the Ministry of Education said in response to The Beijing News reporters’ questions that the two projects faced the issues such as lack of competition, redundant overlaps, and uneven distribution of resources.^[14] The ministry believed there was a need to amend the plan and strengthen the integration of resources.^[15]

List of Project-211 universities and colleges

By 2008, China had some 116 public universities and colleges selected as part of Project 211.^[8]