China tightens regulation on naming higher education institutions

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Education has issued an interim regulation on the naming of higher education institutions.

Institutions in principle should not be titled with words including "China," "national," "international" or other terms that are universally known as substitutes for the nation or the world, and words such as "North China," "East China," "Northeast China" and "Southwest China", which are referring to regions.

Institutions for advanced education, established by provincial governments, can be titled with the province's name. Without authorization, the names should not include trademarks or names legally owned by other organizations or individuals. Translated Chinese names of foreign colleges and universities are also not allowed to be used.

There should be an interval of at least ten years between name changes at the same level, read the regulation.

The new regulation will apply to the naming of fulltime universities, independent colleges and schools, and advanced vocational and technical colleges established after the issuance of the interim regulation, according to the ministry.