BEIJING — The gross enrollment ratio in Chinese higher education reached 51.6 percent last year, with over 40 million students studying in colleges and universities, official figures showed on May 20.

According to a statistical report on China's education sector in 2019, released by the Ministry of Education, the country had 2,688 colleges and universities last year, 25 more than the previous year.

The report showed that Chinese higher education institutions enrolled 916,500 individuals for graduate studies last year, including 105,200 doctoral students and 811,300 masters students.

Staff in colleges and universities totaled over 2.56 million in 2019, an increase of 79,200 from the previous year, up 3.18 percent year-on-year, according to the report.