It has been a century since China’s first modern museum was established. China has 3,400 museums, 1,800 of which are open for free. The nation recognizes museums as a fundamental infrastructure for urban structure and an important component for social development. Aiming to further develop its museums to a world class by 2020, China established a mid- and long-term development plan for museums.
Of 2,300 universities in China, 300 institutions have a museum or academic materials. Began to be established in the mid 19th century with the emergence of modern education, university museums are based on local communities and closely associated with the regions’ economic development. Most of them are small or medium in size and mainly focus on science, technology and history. They serve as a cradle to nurture professional talents through field-oriented education and academic research and as a window through which the public can learn university culture and obtain digital learning materials. However, the government has no specific organizations taking charge of university museums, development plans or financial supports. In addition, university museums lack accessibility and suffer from insufficient space and management. Therefore, the government should fully understand the importance of university museums, develop plans and make supports for the development of university museums.