The Ministry of Education said that news reports that it ordered the closure of 286 Chinese-foreign joint learning institutions and programs were based on old information.

Without fact-checking, some media outlets claimed that the ministry's closure of the institutions and programs was the "latest news", but the cancellation lists were published by the ministry in 2018 and 2019, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"Their reporting has misled the public and has led to widespread public concern," the ministry said.

The ministry approved those cancellations based on a regulation on Chinese-foreign education cooperation, it said.

Most of the programs and institutions were terminated after domestic and foreign universities decided to part ways for various reasons, such as over failed evaluations, the ministry said.

The ministry said it has conducted routine evaluations, annual reviews and special regulation campaigns to improve the quality of Chinese-foreign education cooperation.

The cancellation mechanism is an important part of the regulation and can ensure students' interests, it added.

Liu Jin, director of the ministry's Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, said the ministry approved the opening of 580 Chinese-foreign joint learning institutions and programs during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, with 356 of them offering education at the level of bachelor's degree or higher.

A total of 2,332 such institutions and programs had been established by the end of last year, enrolling more than 300,000 students, she said at a news conference in December.

The country issued a regulation on Chinese-foreign education cooperation in 2004 and the ministry has since issued notices about institutions and programs that have been approved or closed.

In its latest notice, issued in April, the ministry said it had given the green light to 51 Chinese-foreign partnership programs in the second half of 2020, including an undergraduate program between Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing and the University of South Florida in the United States.

Wang Qicai, an associate professor of law at Shanghai Normal University, said the cancellation mechanism is aimed at prompting participating universities to improve the quality of their education and nurture high-quality talent.

Those canceled programs and closed institutions usually needed outside intervention to help the universities find better partners or start cooperation in subjects of greater significance to national development, he said.

However, the rights and interests of students and staff involved in these programs should be protected, he added.