Project 985 is a constructive project for founding world-class universities in the 21st century conducted by the government of the People's Republic of China. On May 4, 1998, President Jiang Zemin declared that"China must have a number of first-rate universities of international advanced level", so Project 985 was launched. In the initial phase, 9 universities were included in the project. The second phase, launched in 2004, expanded the program until it has now reached almost 40 universities.

List of Universities in Project 985          
1. Beijing Institute of Technology
2. Beijing Normal University
3. Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
4. Central South University
5. Central University for Nationalities
6. China Agricultural University
7. Chongqing University
8. Dalian University of Technology
9. Fudan University
10. Harbin Institute of Technology
11. Huazhong University of Science and Technology
12. Hunan University
13. Jilin University
14. Lanzhou University
15. Nanjing University
16. Nankai University
17. National University of Defense Technology
18. Northeastern University
19. Northwest A&F University
20. Northwestern Polytechnical University
21. Ocean University of China
22. Peking University
23. Renmin University of China
24. Shandong University
25. Shanghai Jiaotong University
26. Sichuan University
27. South China University of Technology
28. Southeast University
29. Sun Yat-sen University
30. Tianjin University
31. Tongji University
32. Tsinghua University
33. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
34. University of Science and Technology of China
35. Wuhan University
36. Xiamen University
37. Xian Jiaotong University
38. Zhejiang University
39. East China Normal University