China's education minister has said that the country will make more efforts to build world-class universities. Meanwhile he also vowed to further ease the burden on Chinese students.

China's Minister of Education Chen Baosheng answers questions at a press conference on China's efforts on providing fair education of good quality on the sidelines of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 16, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's government has proposed a plan to promote world-class universities and disciplines through what it has called a "double world-class plan".

Minister Chen Baosheng said priority will be given to central and western regions.

"In the near future, these universities will lead the way for education in central and western China. These universities are built by the ministry and provincial-level authorities. The "double world-class plan" serves the needs of central and western China and China's higher education sector overall."

The "double world-class plan" aims to enhance China's educational competitiveness through the focused use of its best education resources.

The 2018 Times Higher Education university rankings for Asia were released in February, with around 100 Chinese universities on the list, highlighting the evolution of China's higher education system into one that is world class.

But Chen Baosheng stressed that rankings and reviews should not be the sole criteria for assessing education quality.

"These rankings and reviews can be taken as references. But do not take them too seriously. They provide good perspectives for assessing the development of higher education. They help us find our weakness. But we must be confident in our strength. This is my attitude toward the rankings. We respect them but do not hold them to be the only gauge. Our goal is to build world-class universities with Chinese characteristics."

Meanwhile, the Minster also spoke about tackling problems across the education sector, including finding ways to relieve the burden on students, something that has long been on the agenda.

"We should also alleviate the burden on students outside the campus. To that end, we need to regulate the education market. Commercial training agencies are a necessary supplement. But activities such as teaching lessons ahead of the school schedule and teaching without a certificate are violations of the rules. These agencies are teaching only for profit, which is a huge burden on students. We cannot allow such behavior."

Chen said steps will also be taken to improve testing and assessment methods for students.

So far as preschool education is concerned, he said efforts will be made to increase the number of kindergartens and the rate of kindergarten enrollment.

He said the government is aiming to make high-quality and affordable kindergarten education accessible to at least 80% of China's children by 2020.