In 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, only 117,000 students were attending colleges or universities. But the number soared to 37 million in 2015 - the world's largest student population.

1949年中华人民共和国成立的时候，全国仅有11.7万在校大学生。而在2015年，这一数字已经飙升到3700万，位居全球首位。

Now, one in every five college students is in China, according to the country's first quality report on higher education, which was released by the Ministry¹ of Education on last Thursday.

上周四，教育部首次发布了中国高等教育质量报告。该报告指出，中国目前在校大学生的数量已占全球的五分之一。

China's higher education system, one of the largest in the world, has evolved quickly and contributed greatly to the country's development during the past seven decades, the report said. The number of colleges and universities in the country now stands at almost 2,900, and is second only to the United States.

该报告显示，在过去的七十年里，中国高等教育系统迅速发展，为国家的发展做出了很大的贡献，目前已经成为世界上最大的高等教育系统之一。我国全国各类高校数量达到了将近2900所，仅次于美国，位居世界第二。

The report also shows that expenditures² on higher education have increased greatly in recent years - as has the number of educators, the amount of real estate³ and teaching resources.

该报告还指出，近些年来，随着高校教育工作者、教学资产和教学资源数量的增加，全国高等教育的经费也大幅增加。

"The fast development of higher education in China has offered more ordinary Chinese people the opportunity to attend college. It has also provided intelligent support for the dramatic transformation⁴ of Chinese society," said Wu Yan, director of the Higher Education Evaluation⁵ Center. "Colleges and universities are playing increasingly important roles in the country's efforts to innovate⁶."

教育部高等教育教学评估中心主任吴岩表示：“中国高等教育的快速发展让更多的普通人有机会进入大学学习。这为中国社会的成功转型提供了智力上的支持，高校对国家创新的作用越来越大。”

But the report also found that China's higher education system has problems to overcome. It mentions a low transfer rate for scientific research achievements, inadequate⁷ education in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship and a phenomenon⁸ that gives more weight in educators' performance assessments⁹ to research success than to their teaching ability.

但是报告也指出，中国高等教育仍有很多问题需要克服。例如，高校科研成果转化率低、创新人才培养力度不够、评定高校教师过多注重科研，而非其教学能力。

Zhong Binglin, director of the Chinese Society of Education, said it will take time to solve the problems.

中国教育协会会长钟秉林表示，要解决这些问题需要时间。

"There is still much to be done for most colleges and universities to catch up with world-class universities," he said. "To improve China's higher education, reforms should be continued, more resources should be allocated¹⁰ and advanced educational ideas should be introduced to create a good learning atmosphere and to cultivate students' innovative¹¹ abilities."

他说：“对于大多数高校来说，要赶上世界级大学的水平还有很长的路要走。提高中国的高等教育，需要继续深化改革，加大教育资源配置，引进先进的教育理念，以创造良好学风，培养学生的创新能力。”