China announces new military academies as part of PLA modernisation drive
The defence ministry says the move will help ‘adapt to the needs of restructuring military services and the military talent training’
China is reorganising its military education system and establishing academies for new service branches, as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pushes hard for modernisation.
According to the defence ministry, the PLA Ground Force Service Academy will be based in Hefei, Anhui province; the PLA Information Support Force Engineering University in Wuhan, Hubei province; and the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force Engineering University in Chongqing.
These academies will open recruitment for high school graduate applicants, with admission programmes and student enrolment to be announced in follow-up notices, ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said on Thursday.
Jiang said the initiative was taken to “adapt to the needs of restructuring military services and military talent training”.
The new institutes will provide the PLA’s new service branches, the Information Support Force (ISF) and Joint Logistics Support Force (JLSF), distinct channels to directly recruit high school graduates, strengthen their talent pool and train personnel to their needs.
Since 2016, the PLA has been undergoing a structural overhaul, to reshape the Chinese military build-up and improve its proficiencies to fit modern and hi-tech warfare by 2027, as they work towards achieving a “world-class” military by 2049.
The PLA disbanded its Strategic Support Force in April 2024 and inaugurated its functional units – the ISF, the Military Aerospace Force and the Cyberspace Force – as independent service branches reporting to the Central Military Commission. They are all deputy-theatre-grade forces alongside the JLSF, which was created in 2016.