During the 12^th Five-Year Plan, to follow the requests and guidance of Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, Jiangsu Provincial Government and Ministry of Education, Jiangsu has been fully implementing the national education plan. Jiangsu continues to lead China in its overall education strength and standard, as well as various education indicators. The objective of “taking the lead in becoming a strong education province and realize the modernization of education” set in the 12^th Five-Year Plan has now been accomplished.

(1) The education system has been gradually improved. Currently, there are about 12,000 schools, universities or colleges in Jiangsu Province, with 13 million students. Among them, there are 141 higher education institutions, with 1.87 million students, which is the largest university student population within the country. The gross enrollment rate for pre-school education is 97.6%. The graduation rate for compulsory education reaches 100%. The gross enrollment rate for secondary education and tertiary education hits 99.1% and 52.3% respectively. The average education year of prime working-age population reaches 11 years, and that of incoming labor force reaches 14.3 years.

(2) The quality of education is constantly enhanced. The Preschool Five-Year Action Plan is in operation. The provincial high-quality kindergartens have taken up more than 65% of all the kindergartens. Sixty-six counties (cities and districts) have developed into a preschool educational reform Demonstration Area. The ration of regular senior high schools that is three-star or above has reached 83.2%. 894 education bases of basic education have been set up. Remaining China’s top-ranked province for vocational education, Jiangsu has for the seventh consecutive year been the champion of the National Vocational School Skills Competition and for the fifth year been the champion of the Informationalization Teaching Competitio. Thirteen top-tier disciplines of higher education rank first in China, which accounts for 13.7% of all the top-tier disciplines in the whole country. 79 subjects from 21 colleges and universities have reached the top 1% globally in the latest ESI rankings, with the number of universities and subjects on the list ranking 1^st and 2^nd respectively.

(3) Educational equality is effectively promoted. 17 provincial balanced-developed counties (cities, districts) in compulsory education have been built. 100 counties (cities and districts) have obtained authentication from the national supervision on balanced development in compulsory education. With balanced compulsory education realized in most counties, Jiangsu scored highest in the national supervision. The regular exchange rate among compulsory education teachers is 15.3%. The rate of the children of migrant workers who go to public schools reaches 87%. Taking the college and senior high school entrance examinations in cities other than the individual’s hometown has become possible. Support system for underprivileged students covers all stages of study. During the 12^th Five-Year Plan, a sum of 19.86 billion Yuan was issued as financial aid and subsidy, which is 140% of that during the 11^th Five-Year Plan.

(4) The reform and opening-up policy is deepened. The Ministry of Education classified Jiangsu Province as a national experimental zone for comprehensive reform of higher education, implementing the ministry and provincial co-instruction. Twenty-four trial projects for national education reform were undertaken. The cultivation mechanism for talents in universities was in reform, and joint effort was made to improve talent training approaches. While accelerating the construction of modern school system, the autonomy of individual school is escalating. The development fund for provincial private higher education has been established. The first national internationalized demonstration zone of higher education in China is systematically advanced. At present, there are 333 sino-foreign cooperatively-run schools and projects, which ranks the top among all the provinces and makes up 16% of the total across the country. By implementing the International Students Study in Jiangsu Action Plan, Jiangsu currently hosts 26,000 international students.

(5)  Significant achievements have been made in the development of services. 2129 scientific and technological achievements were awarded nationally or provincially, including 133 national awards, taking up 17% of the total in the country, and 326 awards issued by Ministry of Education, making up 22% of the awards that universities earned in China. There are 84,000 patents applied by university and college students, 49,000 of which are accredited. 50.1 billion Yuan was obtained as scientific research funding. The transfer ratio of applied scientific and technological achievement in universities and colleges reaches 58%, which contributes to over 80% of all the philosophical, social and scientific achievements. Educational funding takes up 22% of the total funding for Xinjiang, which make Jiangsu one of the five top provinces in supporting Xinjiang.