East China's Shandong province provides elementary education consisting of preschools, primary, middle and high schools, and higher education comprised of vocational institutes, colleges and universities.

Elementary Education

Compulsory education is available for all school age children in Shandong province, where the gross enrollment rate in primary school reaches 99.98 percent. After graduating from middle school, students may either enter a high school to focus on academic performance or a secondary vocational school emphasizing professional training. In 2017, 422,000 teachers worked full time in primary schools, 276,000 were in middle schools and 134,000 were in high schools.

Primary school students read books with great interest. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Pupils in Weihai celebrate Children's Day. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

Higher education

Shandong spreads its colleges and universities all over its 17 cities, especially large cities like Jinan and Qingdao where schools directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education such as Shandong University, Ocean University of China and China University of Petroleum are situated. By the end of 2017, there were 145 higher education institutions, 111,000 full-time teachers and 2.02 million students in Shandong. In addition, there were 33 institutions providing postgraduate programs for 92,000 students.

Graduation ceremony for postgraduates in Shandong Jianzhu University [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Undergraduates read outdoors on the campus. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

Vocational Education

Shandong takes a leading role in China’s vocational education, having trained many a professional talent for national economic and social development. By 2017, its secondary vocational schools numbered 401 with 793,000 students, and there were 77 higher vocational colleges with 986,000 students. At the 2016 National Professional Skills Competition among Vocational Schools, Shandong won the most medals.

Food carving competition in a vocational school [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]