China ranks second globally in STEM education development, trailing only the United States, according to a new index released on Sunday by the Tongji University STEM Education think tank in Shanghai.

The Global STEM Education Development Index 2025, billed as the world's first comprehensive evaluation tool for national and regional science, technology, engineering and mathematics education development, placed the US in the top position with 86.50 points. China followed closely with 85.46 points. Switzerland, Singapore and Denmark rounded out the top five countries.

The index, developed with academic guidance from the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy and data from Elsevier, systematically assessed the STEM education development levels of 40 major countries and regions worldwide. It established 22 indicators across three dimensions: policy and resources, educational processes, and outcomes and impacts, aiming to provide a scientific benchmark for optimizing national STEM education strategies.

A representative from Tongji University highlighted the increasing global technological competition, stating that STEM education has become a core pillar supporting national innovation capacity and high-quality development.

The release of the index is a direct response to a guideline jointly published in January by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, which called for deepening international STEM education cooperation and creating internationally influential indexes and reports.

Further underscoring international recognition of China's STEM practices is the establishment of UNESCO's first Category 1 Center outside Europe and North America — the International Institute for STEM Education — in Shanghai.

The US' top ranking was attributed to its strong institutional and resource advantages, particularly in education funding as a percentage of GDP, its per-student expenditure and abundant education resources.

China, despite a relative gap in per capita resources, excelled in the "educational processes "dimension. Its outstanding performance in teachers' STEM competency scores, results from the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, competition achievements and large-scale STEM graduate output helped offset these resource disparities.

Among emerging economies, India produced the world's largest number of STEM graduates at 3.34 million. However, its per-student funding amounted to only 17 percent of US levels, leading to a lower overall ranking of 30th place.

The report emphasized that high proportions of education funding in GDP and per-student expenditure provide ample hardware support for research and teaching, fostering a virtuous cycle between basic research and talent cultivation. It also validated the significant impact of industry-academia-research collaboration and open international cooperation on the efficiency of STEM research output translation.

In past international assessments, Chinese students have demonstrated strong performance. The 2018 PISA, hosted every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, found that 15-year-olds in Beijing, Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang ranked No 1 in all three core subjects — reading, science and mathematics — achieving the highest Level 4 rating. While China did not participate in the 2022 PISA test, it has consistently been among the top scorers.

Domestically, China is prioritizing AI education. A recent document issued by the Ministry of Education outlines a tiered AI education system covering all levels of primary and secondary education. The system will guide students from basic cognitive understanding in primary school to deeper analysis in middle school and applied innovation in high school. At the higher education level, the development of artificial intelligence education at universities has been a priority.

Since 2018, when the first 35 Chinese universities introduced undergraduate AI programs, the field has expanded significantly, with over 626 institutions nationwide now offering AI-related degrees.