A Study of the "Double World First-Class Universities Construction Project" in Chinese Higher Education: A Historical Overview and Future Outlook.

In order to transform China into a powerhouse of higher education and promote the internationalization of Chinese higher education, the Chinese government and the Ministry of Education implemented the first round of the "Double World First-Class Universities Construction Project (Double First-Class)" in 2015. The second round of the project also started in 2022. This study aims to review the goals, summarize the implementation results, explore the issues and problems of the first round of "Double First-Class," and find implications for the ongoing second and future third rounds of policy. The study used the literature review analysis method to collect and analyze government policy documents, real-time data, and academic papers published in China on the "Double First-Class." The results showed that the fundamental goal of the "Double First-Class" is to cultivate top universities and disciplines to make China a world power in higher education. The detailed goals focus on constructing top teaching staff, cultivating outstanding research talents, and improving scientific research levels. Nonetheless, science and engineering are overemphasized, while the arts and social sciences are ignored, and there have been controversial problems, such as the corruption of professors. Based on our findings, we further provided the implications of developing a systematic education management and evaluation system, introducing senior professional scholars, and strengthening the management system to improve China's higher education competitiveness during the second and future third rounds of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]