In recent years, many universities in China have undergone “organizational adjustments” to their original security departments, renaming them or adding names like “Party Committee Security and Stability Work Department” or “Party Committee Security Defense Department,” highlighting the Communist Party’s control over campus security. Universities such as Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute, Beijing Agricultural Institute, and Beijing Material Institute have renamed their security departments to “Party Committee Security and Stability Work Department,” with these updated names appearing in campus documents and public announcements.
According to a former administrative staff member at a university in Shaanxi named Mr. Wang, he mentioned that university Party Committees have been required by higher authorities to strengthen political ideological education for students and teachers, aligning with the directives from the top (the CCP leadership), emphasizing the Party’s leadership over the school’s security. He stated that this change signifies that the security department directly falls under the Party Committee’s leadership structure, whereas previously, the security department was primarily an administrative department.
On the official websites of Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin University of Commerce, and Tianjin Sino-German Applied Technology University, the term “Party Committee Security Work Department (Security Department)” can be found, with responsibilities including political defense, national security education, and public security management. Similar structures can be observed in other universities such as Hefei University of Technology, Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Chongqing Vocational College of Culture and Arts.
Mr. Wang explained that the renaming of university security departments to “Security and Stability Work Department” is a nationwide trend in recent years. By adding “Party Committee” to the department’s name, it signifies that security work is directly within the Party Committee’s leadership sequence, shifting the focus from administrative functions to political security and stability responsibilities.
Renamed security departments can also be found at universities such as Beijing Material Institute, Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute, Beijing Agricultural Institute, Zhejiang Normal University (changed to Security and Defense Department), Shenzhen Vocational and Technical University, Tianjin University of Commerce, among others, all adopting the name “Security and Stability Work Department (Department).”
However, universities like Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Renmin University of China in Beijing still use the names “Party Committee Security Department” and “Security Department,” without formally changing to “Security and Stability Department” or “Security and Stability Work Department.” Although these departments are responsible for security and stability management duties, their names retain traditional titles.
According to publicly available information, Beijing Material Institute issued a notice back in 2016, renaming its former Security Department to Security and Stability Work Department, and introduced a new seal. At a “Summer Security Work Conference Briefing” held in July 2025 at Zaozhuang University in Shandong, it was decided to rename the former security department to Security Management Department. Beijing Agricultural Institute also uses the name “Security and Stability Work Department (Department)” in internal reports. Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute uses the full name “Party Committee Security and Stability Work Department (Security and Stability Work Department)” in public documents and inspection reports.
In the Communist Party’s organizational structure, “Department” typically falls under the Party Committee functional department, while “Department” belongs to the administrative functional department. The transformation of university security “departments” to stability “departments” across various Chinese universities signifies more than just a name change but also establishes a direct mechanism from “Deputy/Head of Department Level” to the “Party Committee sequence,” allowing security heads to enter the core decision-making layer of the university (Party Committee Standing Committee), shifting security and stability work from “backend support” to “frontline political tasks.”
Beijing scholar Mr. Song Xiaoguang (pseudonym) mentioned that the new department names include descriptors such as “security and stability,” “security and defense,” and “security management,” integrating political risks, ideology, security and stability, public opinion monitoring, and group event prevention into their responsibilities. These organizational naming changes signify more than a mere rebranding but an adjustment in the institution’s positioning. The Central Committee of the CCP has consistently emphasized the “security and stability” concept, indicating that the focus of security department work has expanded to risk prevention and ideological management.
In 2017, the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Political Work of Colleges and Universities in the New Situation,” proposing to enhance the Party’s comprehensive leadership over universities, strengthen political security, and ideological battleground management. In 2020, the Ministry of Education and eight other departments issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of the Ideological and Political Work System in Colleges and Universities,” suggesting the need to improve the responsibility system for security work and implement the Party Committee’s main responsibility.
Mr. Song Xiaoguang mentioned that in recent years, university Party Committees across the country have been emphasizing security and stability, with classrooms being equipped with cameras to monitor teachers’ statements during lessons. These cameras are monitored by security departments and police stations. The so-called political stability and national security have become important tasks for university Party Committees.