Building a Leading Country in Education in the New Era: Strategic Design, Developmental Tasks, Reform Directions, and Safeguarding MeasuresA Comparative Study of Two Documents for Building a Leading Countryin Education

Building a leading country in education is a key national strategy integral to realizing Chinese path to modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The two documents for building a leading country in education share fundamental principles—prioritizing development; reform, and innovation; promoting fairness; and enhancing quality—while advancing these priorities at different stages, exhibiting notable continuity in strategic design, developmental tasks, reform directions, and safeguarding measures. The Master Plan on Building China into a Leading Country in Education(2024-2035) further refines this framework with several innovations for the deepening phase. Strategically, it establishes the reinforcement of the Party's overall leadership over education as a new cornerstone to guide efforts in the new era. In terms of developmental tasks, it highlights the promotion of education digitization as a critical supporting pillar to consolidate resources. For reform, it focuses on deepening the reform of education evaluation to unlock new vitality. Finally, regarding safeguarding measures, it emphasizes the coordination of education, science, and technology talent development as a fresh initiative to drive the nation's educational advancement.