HANGZHOU, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- In China, a high score in the annual national college entrance examination, or gaokao, has traditionally opened the door to the country's established elite universities. However, this September, as universities across the country welcome new students, some high achievers are taking a different path.
Shen Chenlin, from the eastern province of Zhejiang, ranked around 750th among over 400,000 local gaokao candidates with a score of 688 -- enough to meet the application cutoffs of over 30 universities in the country's elite group of 39.
Yet, Shen chose the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (EIT) in Zhejiang, a fledgling institution now welcoming only its second cohort of undergraduates.
As he begins university life, Shen is excited about EIT's freedom to explore different fields before settling on a major, an approach not typically offered at most Chinese universities.
"We'll take general education courses in our first year and choose a major in the second," Shen told Xinhua. "That gives me time to explore different fields and find what I really like."
Particularly interested in engineering software and simulation design, he hopes to find his future career direction at EIT, whose academic programs span science, engineering, information technology and business, with a particular focus on frontier fields such as AI, integrated circuits and unmanned technologies.
Another draw is EIT's faculty. The university has 16 academicians from various countries and more than 100 faculty members across different majors who will teach Shen and the other 129 undergraduate students in his cohort.
"Having top scholars work directly with undergraduates means we can access high-quality academic resources from the start, which will be a great help when I pursue research in the future," Shen said.
A NEW CHOICE
Many students who scored highly in this year's gaokao made choices similar to Shen's, turning to a new generation of research-oriented universities, a small part of China's higher education landscape numbering only around 10 among more than 1,300 institutions offering undergraduate programs nationwide.
Their choices have put relatively young institutions such as Westlake University in Zhejiang, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology (SUAT) and Great Bay University (GBU) in the southern province of Guangdong, and Fuyao University of Science and Technology in east China's Fujian Province in the spotlight this summer.
Although these research universities still have small undergraduate enrollment -- typically just a few hundred students per cohort -- some expanded their intake this year while keeping admission scores on par with many of China's top universities.
Observers say the growing appeal of these universities reflects a shift in how Chinese students assess their college options, as more look beyond university prestige to consider their academic interests, learning experience and future career prospects.
Research institutions typically focus on science and engineering, with programs concentrated in fields aligned with the country's strategic priorities. Designed to offer a different model of higher education in institutional management, academic disciplines and talent development, their rise comes as China seeks new ways to cultivate talent and pursue original research amid rapid advances in science, technology and industry.
Tian Gang, founding president of GBU, said research universities are facing an unprecedented opportunity. Frontier fields that China urgently needs to develop, including AI, advanced materials and new energy, offer ample room for these relatively young institutions to leverage their flexibility, focus resources and pursue breakthroughs.
The country's education roadmap released in June envisions establishing several more such universities between 2026 and 2030, while provinces like Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Hainan have pledged support for their development in local government work reports or 2026-2030 plans.
DIFFERENT STRENGTHS
According to Chen Xianzhe, an education professor at South China Normal University, the strengths of research-oriented universities lie in their focused academic programs, strong emphasis on research and innovation, and close links with industry.
SUAT, for example, has an unusually compact academic portfolio. Established in 2024 in the global innovation hub of Shenzhen, the university currently offers just nine undergraduate programs, all focusing on emerging areas such as semiconductors, AI, new energy, biomedicine and synthetic biology.
Westlake University, established in 2018 in Hangzhou, exemplifies a research-intensive model with an international outlook. Supported by both public and private funding, it has enrolled over 3,200 students to date, including more than 420 undergraduates and nearly 2,800 doctoral students. Its academic community of over 2,200 faculty and staff members comes from more than 30 countries and regions.
EIT in Ningbo, meanwhile, places greater emphasis on linking education and research with industry. It has partnered with 33 technology companies to co-train undergraduates. Established in 2025, EIT has already secured 786 research projects and incubated 21 technology companies.
"We aim to cultivate undergraduates into scientists with an entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurs with a strong grounding in science," said Zhang Dongxiao, EIT executive vice president.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the China National Institute of Education Sciences, said these institutions can adapt more quickly to changing needs than some established comprehensive universities.
That responsiveness is strengthened by the ecosystems surrounding many of these universities. Often based in cities with strong technology and industrial bases, they have close ties to companies, research institutions, and emerging industries, which opens up diverse opportunities for students in both academic research and their future careers.
At the Shenzhen-based SUSTech, a pioneering research-oriented university established in 2012, more than 100 university-industry joint laboratories support collaboration in frontier fields including new energy, quantum technology and energy storage, with each partnership worth at least 5 million yuan (737,000 U.S. dollars).
The latest data show that the university has transferred 723 research achievements to industry, with technology transfer contracts totaling more than 1.51 billion yuan.
SUSTech has also ranked among the top 10 universities on the Chinese mainland in the Global Employability University Ranking and Survey for five consecutive years, underscoring its graduates' strong career prospects.
This shift in students' choices, however, does not mean that higher education should move in just one direction.
The growing appeal of these science- and engineering-focused institutions reflects the demands of a changing economy, but less popular fields remain important to broader social development, said Zhu Xi, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. "A strong higher-education system should allow different talents to find their place."
The same diversity is needed among universities. The rise of research universities does not diminish the value of established institutions. Rather than replacing one another, the two models can complement each other, bringing different strengths to China's higher education, said Ming Liang, a senior researcher at the think tank China Development Institute. ■
