China's Smart Education Platform Is Setting the Pace for AI in Learning
Scale matters when you're building real access. China's Smart Education platform now hosts the largest high-quality education resource center globally, with 72.6 billion total visits and an average of 52 million daily visits. It serves 178 million users across 200+ countries and regions.
For educators, this isn't hype-it's infrastructure. The platform spans preschool to postgraduate, covering moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor education. It includes 130,000+ resources for primary/secondary, 12,500+ vocational courses, and around 145,000 higher-ed courses.
AI Education: From Pilot to System
The platform now fuels AI education across the full stack-basic, vocational, higher, and lifelong learning-with 1,000+ AI courses. Around 500,000 teachers and students from 2,000 universities have completed online AI training. Another 1.31 million undergraduates have gone through comprehensive AI application training.
Universities are baking AI into general education and major requirements. Fudan University introduced AI courses for all undergrads and postgrads, integrated AI into every first-level discipline, and made AI literacy a baseline expectation. Zhejiang University built an "AI+" full-cycle talent pipeline starting in 2019-11 integrated undergrad-to-doctoral programs (including smart ocean studies), new tracks in intelligent manufacturing and robotics, and 27 "AI+X" textbooks. Fifteen of its courses are live on the national higher-ed smart platform.
Global Context: Digital Education Is Getting Competitive
Countries like the United States and EU members are putting AI education at the center of national strategies and increasing investment. China's position in a global digital education development index has moved from 24th (2023) to ninth (2024) to sixth (2025). The direction is clear: scale, quality, and AI capability are becoming baseline, not bonus.
What This Means for Your Institution
- Set AI literacy as a graduation outcome. Follow the general-education model: foundational AI literacy for all students, with discipline-specific applications woven into majors.
- Map "AI+X" across departments. Identify 2-3 high-impact use cases per discipline (e.g., AI-enabled lab analysis in biology, workflow automation in nursing, synthetic data in engineering) and build course modules around them.
- Stand up a teacher training track. Use short, stackable credentials for faculty: prompt design, model evaluation, data ethics, and classroom use policies. Target at least 10-15% of faculty trained per semester.
- Pilot, measure, then scale. Start with 3-5 courses per college that integrate AI tasks and assessments. Track outcomes: student performance, time saved, and academic integrity signals.
- Publish a clear AI use policy for students. Define allowed tools, citation norms for AI assistance, and assignment types where AI is restricted. Make it visible inside LMS and syllabi.
Program Design Checklist
- Learning outcomes: AI literacy for all; advanced competencies by major
- Curriculum: scaffolded modules from foundational to applied "AI+X" projects
- Assessment: mix of authentic tasks, oral defenses, and process portfolios
- Faculty enablement: office hours, templates, model cards, and sandbox access
- Governance: ethics, privacy, model bias review, and regular policy updates
Where to Start This Semester
- Pick two gateway courses per department to add AI-supported assignments.
- Run a 4-6 week micro-course for faculty on AI use and classroom design.
- Create a shared resource hub: prompt libraries, case studies, grading rubrics.
- Set up a student AI lab (virtual is fine) staffed by trained peer mentors.
AI is moving from optional skill to baseline fluency. With large-scale platforms, clear competency targets, and faculty support, you can improve access and raise the floor on quality at the same time.
If you need ready-to-implement training tracks for staff and students, explore curated options at Complete AI Training: Courses by Job. For policy and implementation guidance, UNESCO's resources on AI in education are a solid reference point: UNESCO AI in Education.
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