We study hard in order to get into our dream universities. However, not every student can do so. Some students' college entrance exam scores are too low to get them into their ideal school.

The gross enrollment ratio (GER) is used around the world to show how many students end up in higher education. It is the rate of 18- to 22-year-olds who can get into university. China wants to achieve a GER of 20 percent, which means that one in five students would be studying at a university or college.

In the early 1990s, China's GER stood at about 5 percent, lower than many developed countries. In 2019, the GER reached 51. 6 percent, with over 40 million students studying in colleges and universities, Xinhua reported.

This was not easy. In 1999, the government carried out a higher education expansion policy (扩招政策)to give more students the chance to get higher education. Many new measures, including building schools, hiring teachers and offering money to poor students, were taken.

The GER often has a relationship with higher income levels and better jobs. For example, service economies often have greater need for people with higher education, which usually decides over 50 percent of a country's GDP.