China's student population has risen exponentially over the past 70 years, growing from 117,000 in 1949 to a remarkable 37 million in 2015.

Today, not only are there more Chinese students attending colleges and universities; in fact, one in five college students across the globe are studying in China, reported the China Daily.

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According to the first quality report on higher education release by the Ministry of Education last Thursday, China now has 2,900 colleges and universities across the country, which is second only to the United States.

The report noted that the country's higher education system has evolved quickly, contributing significantly to the country's development over the past seven decades, and fueling the impressive growth in China's student population.

It is worthy to note that the government funds spent on higher education has also substantially gone up in recent years, going hand in hand with rise in the number of educators, amount of real estate, and teaching resources.

"The fast development of higher education in China has offered more ordinary Chinese people the opportunity to attend college," said Wu Yan, director of the Higher Education Evaluation Center, which prepared the report.

"It has also provided intelligent support for the dramatic transformation of Chinese society," he added. "Colleges and universities are playing increasingly important roles in the country's efforts to innovate."

In the meantime, the report also pointed out that China's higher education system is also facing challenges that need to be addressed.

These include the low transfer rate for scientific research achievements; inadequate education in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship; and the practice of giving more weight to an educators' performance in their research projects than their teaching ability.

Zhong Binglin, director of the Chinese Society of Education, explained that it will take time to resolve these problems.

"There is still much to be done for most colleges and universities to catch up with world-class universities," he said, as China's finds ways to capitalize on its fast expanding student population.

Tagschina, Student Population, Ministry of Education