Recently the Ministry of Education announced that a number of regulatory documents are no longer valid. These included Project 211 and Project 985, which were two key projects intended to establish a number of world-class universities and colleges. The invalidation of these two projects has been interpreted as bringing to an end the plan for these key universities and colleges.

But in fact the two projects have been suspended for years. The third phase of Project 211 was completed at the beginning of 2012, and the third phase of Project 985 was completed in 2013. Nothing has been done on the two projects since then.

The Ministry of Education has said that the plan for higher education now focuses on deepening reform in a comprehensive way.

The ministry also said that it is implementing measures to establish world first-class universities and world first-class disciplines, and supporting measures are in progress. A new round of reforms will be launched this year, it said.