Project 985

Project 985 (Chinese: 985工程) was a higher education development and sponsorship scheme of the government of China for creating world-class higher education institutions, initiated in May 1998. There were 39 universities selected to be part of this program, which are mostly considered top-tier institutions in mainland China.

Project 211 and Project 985 were both initiated by CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin in 1990s as part of the "revitalize the country through science and education" strategy. They were nullified in 2016 and replaced by the Double First-Class Construction in 2017, under the Xi Jinping administration.