China's Ministry of Education and the Zhejiang provincial government will allocate a total of 1. 4 billion yuan over the next three years to Zhejiang University, one of the largest and most comprehensive institutions of higher learning in the country.

Education Minister Chen Zhili said this decision will help the university become one of the world's top institutions of higher learning in the coming century.

The university was formed last September by combining four universities, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University, and Zhejiang Medical University, all in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

The creation of the new university represents another step taken by China to reform its system of higher learning and promote the rational utilization of educational resources.

The new Zhejiang University now tops all Chinese universities in terms of academic departments, majors offered, number of students, faculty and staff, campus area, and computer network.

The university offers 12 branches of learning, 145 four-year majors, 192 master's degree programs, and 124 doctorate and 12 post-doctorate programs.

The 10,000 faculty staff include over 800 professors, 2,200 associate professors, seven academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and six academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The university now has more than 30,000 students, including 3, 500 postgraduates and over 1,500 doctoral candidates.