(Source: Guangming Daily 2025-09-23)
On the afternoon of September 20, 2025, the 13th Beijing Humboldt Forum "World Important Education Center City Construction Forum" was successfully held on the second floor of the International Exchange Building of the w88 casino. This theme forum is hosted by the Research Institute of the World Important Education Center of the w88 casino.
Researcher Huang Haigang, leader of the "Global Education Center Cities Evaluation" project team of the Institute of World Important Education Centers at the w88 casino, released the "Top 100 Global Education Center Cities (2025)" list. She pointed out that judging from the evaluation results, China is the country with the densest distribution of educational center cities in Asia and the highest overall ranking. A total of 16 cities were selected. Beijing and Shanghai ranked 3rd and 9th on the list respectively, ranking among the top 10. The education center cities in Japan and South Korea are all capitals or economic centers. For example, Seoul in South Korea ranked 5th, and Tokyo in Japan ranked 13th. This reflects the deep binding and mutual empowerment of educational resources and urban development. From the perspective of distribution across continents, Europe ranks first with 39 cities, becoming the continent with the most education center cities in the world; Asia ranks second with 29 cities, showing a strong development trend; North America ranks third with 24 cities; Oceania, South America, and Africa have 4, 2, and 2 cities respectively shortlisted for the top 100. From a ranking perspective, Chinese cities have formed a clear echelon. The first echelon is Beijing (3rd) and Shanghai (9th), which are ranked in the top ten, and the second echelon is Hong Kong (12th), Shenzhen (27th), and Hangzhou (29th), ranking 11-30. The third echelon is Guangzhou (37th), Nanjing (47th), Macau (48th), Wuhan (49th), Chengdu (53rd), Taipei (60th), Xi'an (65th), Chongqing (66th), Tianjin (71st), Hefei (84th), and Changsha (85th), ranking 31-100. From the perspective of regional distribution, China's shortlisted cities show a pattern of "leading the east and blooming in many places".
Zhang Haisen, deputy director of the Research Institute of the World's Important Education Center, presided over the special report session. Xue Jinjun, a distinguished professor at Nagoya University in Japan and a founding member of the Humboldt Forum, said that in terms of cultural communication, the identification of key figures is crucial. Giving full play to the propaganda of key figures around the world and enhancing the cultural soft power of Chinese education are key points in building an important education center in the world. In terms of talent cultivation, interests and talents must be cultivated, emphasizing that interest cultivation is the foundation of scientific research, and the spirit of an educator can provide a steady stream of motivation for the construction of an important education center in the world. Gao Shuguo, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Education Society and distinguished professor of Capital Normal University, said that a world education center is a country or city that plays a central role and plays a leading role in the process of global education reform and development. It is an important center for educational thought innovation, education reform source center, high-quality education development center and education scientific research center in the world.
Researcher Chen Jianwei, a member of the "Global Education Center City Evaluation" project team, pointed out that globalization has entered a new stage, and the transnational flow of knowledge, technology and talents has become an important driving force for world development. To understand and lead this trend, we must focus on a key concept—education center city (extended into an important education center city with global influence). Building an important education center city with global influence is not only a need for the development of higher education itself, but also a key strategy for the country to enhance its core competitiveness in the global landscape. Professor Yuan Ke, a member of the "Global Education Center City Evaluation" project team, pointed out that a world education center city, in short, refers to a city or city group that has significant advantages in education supply opportunities, various education resources, education development quality, education influence, etc., and plays a leading and radiating role in education on a regional or global scale. A sound evaluation index system for cities that are important educational centers in the world should not only pay attention to the current development and contribution of education, but also the support and inclusiveness of education in the future.
Associate researcher Lu Fuyong, a member of the "Global Education Center City Evaluation" project team, pointed out that among the top 100 cities in the comprehensive ranking, a total of 16 are from China. Analyzing the performance of the four first-level indicators of these 16 Chinese cities, it was found that Chinese cities generally have outstanding performance in the dimensions of educational contribution and educational support, and perform well in the field of educational development. However, some cities have shortcomings and deficiencies in the field of educational service. From the perspective of third-level indicators, Chinese cities have relatively outstanding performance in key indicators such as the total investment in urban education funds, the number of patent authorizations, and the number of top academic papers. However, there is still room for improvement in third-level indicators such as the number of international conferences and the number of international students under the educational service capacity.
In the roundtable forum, experts and scholars held a dialogue around "City Construction as a Global Education Center". Through discussions, experts attending the meeting believed that the first release of the "Top 100 Global Education Center Cities" established an internationally comparable and leading evaluation system, provided a scientific reference for global education layout and urban development, and played an important role in accelerating the construction of an important education center with global influence and promoting the strategy of strengthening the country in education. (Guangming Daily all-media reporter Liu Bochao)
Attached original text link:https://app.gmdaily.cn/as/opened/n/9235fb337a64445eb2b82ba1428fc232
