China had 498,300 schools of all levels nationwide in 2023, a 3.9 percent decline compared to the previous year, while 291 million students were enrolled in the same year, seeing a 0.52 percent decrease, according to the Ministry of Education.

Guo Peng, head of the ministry's Department of Development Planning, said the number of full-time teachers reached 18.92 million last year, increasing 0.6 percent year-on-year.

There were 274,400 kindergartens nationwide, with 40.93 million children enrolled in preschool education, Guo said when introducing the Nation's development in education sector last year at a news conference on Friday.

The number of full-time teachers in preschool education hit 3.07 million, with a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.32:1, indicating an improvement from the previous year, he said.

The campuses of primary schools nationwide covered an area of 904 million square meters, an increase of 14.89 million square meters compared to the previous year.

Last year, there were 7,085 secondary vocational education schools managed by the ministry, hosting a total of 12.98 million students, Guo said.

The gross enrollment rate for higher education reached 60.2 percent, a 0.6 percentage point increase from the previous year, which means the goals set in the 14th Five-Year Plan have been achieved ahead of schedule.

China had 3,074 higher education institutions, 61 more than the previous year. The total enrollment in higher education was 47.63 million, with a growth of 2.32 percent compared with the previous year.

In addition, the proportion of professional master's degree students had approached 60 percent, Guo said.

"In response to requirements posed by the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation on talent development, universities were guided to optimize their discipline structures, enhancing the cultivation of STEM talent," he said.

In 2023, the enrollment for master's degrees in science, engineering, agriculture and medicine accounted for 60 percent of the total, while that for doctoral degrees exceeded 80 percent, he added.