Five years ago, almost all of Shenzhen’s tertiary education institutes were based in Nanshan District, but at least one university will be set up in each district in Shenzhen in the near future, according to the director of the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau.

    The city has been signing contracts with top universities at home and abroad to jointly build universities in Shenzhen in the coming years. There are 10 universities currently in the city, with more than 90,000 students. Over half of the 5,000 teachers at the universities have doctoral degrees.

    The director of the city’s education bureau, Guo Yurong, announced that by 2025, Shenzhen would have around 20 universities, with around 200,000 students in attendance.

    For Shenzhen to be stationing itself as an education hub is an ambitious goal. The city plans to cultivate its own global talent pool because most of the universities to be built use international education systems.

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen was among the first joint universities to settle in Shenzhen three years ago. Though the campus is still under construction, it has already opened three facilities and offers eight majors. There are 689 students at the university, 79 of which are the university’s first postgraduate students. The university has announced that it will accept Ph.D. students next year and will enroll 250 doctoral and postgraduate students in total next September.

    Another joint university in Longgang District, Shenzhen BIT-MSU University, also plans to open and take students next year. The university will use a transition campus next September and the construction of the dormitory and teaching buildings has already been completed. (Zhang Qian)