Big money aimed at top universities

Govt investment of 110b yuan to help put China in top talent, quality echelon

China will devote more resources to reforming its manufacturing sector with new, innovative technologies, while improving the higher education system's ability to produce quality talent capable of original, groundbreaking work, officials said on Saturday.

China will invest around 110 billion yuan ($17.2 billion) by 2020 to help the country's top 42 universities become first-class institutions, while creating 137 universities with first-class standing in specific fields, Yang Wei, former director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, said during a panel discussion at the 20th annual meeting of the China Association of Science and Technology in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, which opened on Saturday.