Institutions are now required to ensure that their in-house party committee "exercises comprehensive leadership" over their teaching, scientific research and administration, according to a revised set of rules issued on April 22. "All major issues should be collectively discussed and decided by the party committee," the "Regulations on the Work of CCP Grassroots Organizations in Colleges and Universities" said.
Party branches should also be set up to guide the work of teachers, researchers on specific projects, undergraduate students and other sub-groups within a university, it said, choosing members with "a strong party spirit." Their job is to carry out propaganda work and implement the central party line, as decided by Beijing, it said. They are also charged with "resolutely preventing and resist all kinds of illegal missionary and infiltration activities," it said, in an apparent reference to religious organizations and political dissent.
