In August 2004, Hu Jintao led the central administration in issuing the “Opinion on Further Strengthening and Developing Political Education for College Students.” Since then, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Education, and the Central Commission of the Chinese Communist Youth League have developed a total of 17 guidelines and plans. On July 20, 2012, People’s Daily published an article that summarized the systematic effort the central administration has carried out over the past eight years to strengthen the political ideology education work throughout the university system.
According to the article, since 2004, the Organization Department, the Central Propaganda Department, and the Ministry of Education have conducted six meetings on college campuses on the subject of Party development work. By June 30, 2011, 81,311 Party branches had been established on 2,383 colleges and universities. The end result is that there are Party members in each freshman class, Party groups in each sophomore class, and Party branches established in the junior and senior classes.
The Department of Education also established an Ideological and Political Theory Course as a college requirement for students. For example, Nankai University invested at least 500,000 yuan in annual funding in this area.
In addition, an effort has been made to develop Party assistants on each campus so they can play significant roles in Party development. The media and the Internet have also played key roles in Party development work.
Source: People’s Daily, June 20, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/18239464.html