China to build centers on ideological and political work in 20 universities

China’s Ministry of Education (MOE) released a list of universities that have been selected to build centers on ideological and political work targeting campuses.

With the purpose of leveraging “the advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics to cultivate talent, strengthen the Party’s leadership and construction, and enhance the ideological and political work on campus,” the MOE asked universities to apply to build centers on developing and innovating ideological and political work on campus in August. So far, 20 universities have went through the review.

The main missions of these centers include conducting studies on ideological and political work on campus, offering consulting services to universities and education bureaus of all levels, and encouraging exchanges among similar centers in different universities, according to a document from the MOE.

Six universities in Beijing are on the list, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China. Northeast Normal University and Jilin University in Northeast China, Wuhan University in Central China, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in East China, Chongqing University in Southwest China and Lanzhou University in Northwest China are also developing such centers.

The departments on maintaining stability or on Party construction and united front work in the 20 universities are required to keep in touch with relevant departments in the MOE to push forward the work and report problems, according to the ministry.