China has emerged as a close second to the US in a new global assessment of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education development – signalling its rapid progress and growing global influence in the field.
According to the inaugural Global STEM Education Development Index 2025, recently released by Shanghai’s Tongji University STEM Education think tank, China scored 85.46 points, just behind the US at 86.50. Switzerland, Singapore and Denmark rounded out the top five, China Daily reports.
The index is described as the world’s first comprehensive evaluation of national STEM education capacity. Based on data from Elsevier, the world-leading scientific publisher and data analytics company, it was developed with guidance from the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy.
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To determine its rankings, the researchers evaluated 40 countries and regions across 22 indicators in three categories: policy and resources; educational processes; and outcomes and impacts.
The US’ top slot was attributed to its edge in established institutional resources and funding, particularly with regards to education funding as a percentage of gross domestic product and per-student expenditure. China, meanwhile, performed better in the educational processes category. This covered indicators like teacher competency, student achievement and graduate output.
Domestically, Beijing has made AI education a national priority. A new Ministry of Education framework has introduced AI learning across all levels of schooling, and more than 600 universities now offer AI-related degrees – up from just 35 in 2018.
