Editing Science and technology in China (section)

== Education and R&D personnel ==
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em;"
|+ [[Program for International Student Assessment|PISA]]<br />2009 results for the top 10 nations<ref>{{citation | mode= cs1 |url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf
| work = What Students Know and can do: Student Performance in reading, mathematics and Science
 | title = Comparing Countries' and economies' performance| page = 8 | type= figure 1 | date= 2010 | author=((PISA results 2009))
|publisher=Oecd.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607181829/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf|archive-date=2012-06-07}}</ref>
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background:#ceceee;"|Mathematics
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background:#cecece;"|Sciences
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="background:#fcc;"|Reading
|-
| 1.
| {{flagicon|CHN}} [[Shanghai]], [[China]] || 600
| {{flagicon|CHN}} [[Shanghai]], [[China]] || 575
| {{flagicon|CHN}} [[Shanghai]], [[China]] || 556
|-
| 2.
| {{flagcountry|Singapore}} || 562
| {{flagcountry|Finland}} || 554
| {{flagcountry|South Korea}} || 539
|-
| 3.
| {{flagcountry|Hong Kong}}, [[China]] || 555
| {{flagcountry|Hong Kong}}, [[China]] || 549
| {{flagcountry|Finland}} || 536
|-
| 4.
| {{flagcountry|South Korea}} || 546
| {{flagcountry|Singapore}} || 542
| {{flagcountry|Hong Kong}}, [[China]] || 533
|-
| 5.
| {{flagcountry|Taiwan}} || 543
| {{flagcountry|Japan}} || 539
| {{flagcountry|Singapore}} || 526
|-
| 6.
| {{flagcountry|Finland}} || 541
| {{flagcountry|South Korea}} || 538
| {{flagcountry|Canada}} || 524
|-
| 7.
| {{flagcountry|Liechtenstein}} || 536
| {{flagcountry|New Zealand}} || 532
| {{flagcountry|New Zealand}} || 521
|-
| 8.
| {{flagcountry|Switzerland}} || 534
| {{flagcountry|Canada}} || 529
| {{flagcountry|Japan}} || 520
|-
| 9.
| {{flagcountry|Japan}} || 529
| {{flagcountry|Estonia}} || 528
| {{flagcountry|Australia}} || 515
|-
| 10.
| {{flagcountry|Canada}} || 527
| {{flagcountry|Australia}} || 527
| {{flagcountry|Netherlands}} || 508
|}
{{See also|Education in China|Higher education in China|Project 985|Double First-Class Construction}}
In the first participation of Chinese student in an international student assessment test, the 2009 [[Program for International Student Assessment|PISA]], 15-year-old students from [[Shanghai]] ranked first in all of the three categories: mathematics, science, and reading. The Chinese students scored particularly well compared to other nations in mathematics. One explanation for the Chinese results may be a culture emphasizing education and competitive examinations and more time spent studying in part due to less participation in activities such as sports. Teaching has become a higher status occupation. Also, industrialized Shanghai which has done important educational reforms may not be representative for the rest of China. While there was no evidence of cheating or technical problems with the testing, Shanghai attracts many immigrants from the rest of China may have allowed particularly good students to study in the city. The [[OECD]] director of the testing, [[Andreas Schleicher]], said that the results were expected to produce astonishment and had been examined for accuracy by international experts after the OECD received the Shanghai scores. He also said that the results "refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning" and "Large fractions of these students demonstrate their ability to extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very creatively in novel situations".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1 | work=The New York Times | first1=Sam | last1=Dillon | title=In PISA Test, Top Scores From Shanghai Stun Experts | date=7 December 2010}}</ref> He believes that China has moved away from learning by rote.<ref>{{citation|last=Mance|first=Henry|title=Why are Chinese schoolkids so good?|date=7 December 2010|url=http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/12/07/why-are-chinese-schoolkids-so-good/|work=[[Financial Times]]|access-date=28 June 2012}}</ref> According to Schleicher, Russia performs well in rote-based assessments, but not in PISA, whereas China does well in both rote-based and broader assessments.<ref name="ft-1">{{citation|last=Cook|first=Chris|title=Shanghai tops global state school rankings|date=7 December 2010|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/20770bf6-01e7-11e0-b66c-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/20770bf6-01e7-11e0-b66c-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=[[Financial Times]]|access-date=28 June 2012}}</ref> In 2018 four major regions ([[Beijing]], [[Shanghai]], [[Jiangsu]] and [[Zhejiang]]) in China topped the rankings in reading, mathematics and science<ref>{{Cite web|title=PISA 2018 Insights and Interpretations|url=https://www.oecd.org/pisa/PISA%202018%20Insights%20and%20Interpretations%20FINAL%20PDF.pdf}}</ref> and China's school children are now the smartest in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Which countries have the smartest kids?|url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/students-young-people-education/|website=World Economic Forum|language=en|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref> Chinese high school students won multiple [[gold medal]]s every year consistently at many [[International Science Olympiad|International Science Olympiad Competitions]] like the [[International Biology Olympiad]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=IBO results & reports|url=https://www.ibo-info.org/en/info/results-reports.html|website=International Biology Olympiad|language=en|access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref> the [[International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Beijing Planetarium Led a Team to Participate in the International Olympiad of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Achieved Great Results|url=http://www.bjast.ac.cn/Html/Article/20190925/40204.html}}</ref> the [[International Olympiad in Informatics]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=China results on International Olympiad in Informatics|url=https://stats.ioinformatics.org/results/CHN}}</ref> the [[International Earth Science Olympiad]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=List of Medal and Team Award Winners {{!}} IESO-info|url=http://www.ieso-info.org/documents/honor-board/|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-27|archive-date=December 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219002717/https://www.ieso-info.org/documents/honor-board/|url-status=dead}}</ref> the [[International Mathematical Olympiad]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=International Mathematical Olympiad|url=https://www.imo-official.org/results_country.aspx?column=awards&order=deschttps://www.imo-official.org/results_country.aspx?column=awards&order=desc|website=www.imo-official.org|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> the [[International Physics Olympiad]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=IPhO: People's Republic of China - Individual Results|url=https://ipho-unofficial.org/countries/CHN/individual|website=ipho-unofficial.org|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> and the [[International Chemistry Olympiad]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=China tops 48th International Chemistry Olympiad {{!}} Chemical & Engineering News|url=https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/web/2016/07/China-tops-48th-International-Chemistry.html|website=cen.acs.org|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref>

China's rank based on number of Gold Medals in last 10 years(2014-2023):
* Physics - [[International Physics Olympiad#Distribution of medals|1-st]]
* Chemistry -[[International Chemistry Olympiad#Distribution of medals|1-st]]
* Biology - [[International Biology Olympiad#Distribution of medals|2-nd]]
* Mathematics - [[International Mathematical Olympiad#Medals (1959–2023)|1-st]]

China has become one of the world's biggest sources for research and development personnel. Between 2000 and 2008, the number of engineers and scientists more than doubled to 1.59 million. Relative to population size this is still low compared to major developed nations like the United States and Japan but the gap is rapidly closing.<ref name=UNESCO2010/> The number of doctorate awards in science and engineering have increased tenfold since the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite periodical |url=http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/api100.pdf | title= China's Innovation Policy Is a Wake-Up Call for America | author= Dieter Ernst | magazine= Asia Pacific Issues | publisher= East-West Center | issue = 100 | date= 2011 | pages= 1–12 | issn =  1522-0966  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923233043/http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/stored/pdfs/api100.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-23 }}</ref> The number of students in general at universities increased from 1 million to 5.4 million during the 1998-2007 period.<ref name=Battelle2011/>  In 2009 alone, China produced over 10,000 [[PhD]] engineering graduates, and as many as 500,000 [[BSc]] graduates in engineering, mathematics, information technology, and computer science &ndash; more than any other country.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2010/07/29/news/international/china_engineering_grads.fortune/index.htm|title=The rise of engineers in China is leaving the US behind - Jul. 29, 2010|work=cnn.com | first1=Geoff|last1=Colvin|date=29 July 2010}}</ref>

The [[C9 League]], pitched as China's [[Ivy League]], is an alliance of nine elite Chinese universities which receive a high amount of national research funding and produce a large share of national research output.

Chinese universities contribute an unusually large share of patents. The universities receive about half of R&D money from private enterprises.<ref name=Battelle2011/>

Eight out of nine members of the [[Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo Standing Committee]] of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) have engineering degrees, including [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP general secretary]] [[Hu Jintao]].<ref name=Battelle2011>{{cite web|url=http://www.battelle.org/aboutus/rd/2011.pdf|title=Media - In the News - Battelle|work=battelle.org}}</ref>

2.25 million students have studied abroad since 1978. 340,000 were studying abroad in 2011 which was an increase by 20% over the previous year. In total 818,400 have returned to China with this occurring in particular in recent years. 186,200 returned to China in 2011 which was an increase by 38% over the previous year. China offers several benefits for high-achieving foreign educated Chinese who return to China. Students are now also returning because increased job opportunities unlike previously when many stayed abroad due lack of jobs in China.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thepienews.com/news/number-of-returning-chinese-students-up-38/|title=International Education News l The PIE News l Number of returning Chinese students up 38%|author=The PIE News|work=thepienews.com|date=March 21, 2012 }}</ref> A 2009 study found that only 10% of Chinese students plan to stay in the United States due to visa restrictions, fear of lack of job opportunities, and belief that US growth will lag behind average world growth rates. 52% believed that the best job opportunities were in China which was in marked contrast with earlier surveys. 74% felt that the best days of China's economy was coming. 68% intended to start businesses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kauffman.org/research-and-policy/losing-best.aspx|title=Losing the World's Best and Brightest: America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Part V - Kauffman.org|work=kauffman.org}}</ref> When they return, foreign educated students often provide crucial science and technology knowledge, management skills, and innovation abilities for scientific research and industry. The senior management in high tech companies are often foreign educated.<ref>Vivek Wadhwa, Committee on the Judiciary of the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, October 5, 2011</ref>