Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the building of competent teaching teams, a high-level talent training system and world-class universities as International Youth Day approaches.

Xi made the remarks during an inspection tour of Peking University, one of China’s top universities, on Wednesday ahead of the university’s 120th anniversary, which falls on May 4, reports state-owned news portal Xinhua.

Xi stressed that more effort needs to be spent on improving higher education and nurturing world-class universities with Chinese characteristics - meaning universities that adapt to Chinese conditions.

To achieve that goal, Xi proposed that the country should focus on three fundamental areas: adhering to the right political direction, training competent teachers and establishing a system that will cultivate talent.

Only seven mainland Chinese universities were included in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings top 200 last year, plus one in Taiwan and five Hong Kong-based institutions, with Peking University 27th and Tsinghua University 30th.

May 5, 2018 also marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of German philosopher and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx. Peking University established the first school of Marxism in the country, given it was the cradle from where Marxism began to spread in China.

While visiting the school, Xi said that a university's school of Marxism should adhere to clear-cut political orientation and teaching principles, in order to consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the field of ideology.