Resumption of national college entrance examination
In 1977 China restored the national college entrance examination, which had been suspended for 10 years due to the Cultural Revolution. This put the education of its youth back on track.
When a forum on science and education was held in August 1977, the attendees all asked for an immediate resumption of the national college entrance examination. They received support from Deng Xiaoping who presided over the forum. In September, the Ministry of Education summoned a meeting on college enrollment and decided to restore the practice of selecting college students through a unified national examination. On October 12, the State Council issued a document that allowed workers, peasants, educated youth, ex-servicemen, officials and senior high school graduates to take the examination if they met the requirements. The entrance examination was conducted the following winter, and the freshman semester began in spring. More than 5.7 million people sat the national examination and 273,000 were enrolled.
The resumption was a prelude to China's reform and opening up. It changed the future of several generations, and laid the intellectual foundation for China's development and economic lift-off. Higher education returned to normal, and compulsory elementary education received due attention. Skilled workers and professionals urgently needed in all fields of work emerged in large numbers.
恢复高考
1977年，由于“文化大革命”的冲击而中断了10年的中国高考制度得以恢复，中国的人才培养重新步入了健康发展的轨道。1977年8月初，邓小平主持召开科学和教育工作座谈会时，与会者纷纷主张立即恢复高考，得到邓小平明确支持。1977年9月，教育部召开全国高等学校招生工作会议，决定恢复已经停止了10年的全国高等院校招生考试，以统一考试、择优录取的方式选拔人才上大学。当年10月12日，国务院批转教育部《关于1977年高等学校招生工作的意见》规定，凡是工人、农民、上山下乡和回乡知识青年、复员军人、干部和应届毕业生，符合条件均可报考。1977年高考招生考试在冬季进行，新生第二年春季入学，有570多万人参加了考试，当年全国大专院校录取新生27.3万人。
高考制度的恢复，奏响了改革开放交响曲的序曲，不仅改变了几代人的命运，尤为重要的是为我国在新时期及其后的发展和腾飞奠定了良好的基础。高考恢复使中国高等教育重新走上正轨，基础义务教育逐渐引起重视，国民经济各行各业急需的大批专业人才和知识精英才快速涌现。