the U.S. with the highest number of scientific publications.[8][9] China has also been a top destination for international students.[10] As of 2013, China was the most popular country in Asia for international students and ranked third overall among countries.[10] According to the most recent statistics from the Ministry of Education, China (hosting 492,185 international students in 2018) has overtaken the UK (hosting 458,520 international students in 2018 according to Study in UK) to become the host of second largest international students population.[11] As of 2018, the country had the world's second-highest number of top universities, after the United States.[12][13] In the 2020 CWTS Leiden Ranking edition, China surpassed the U.S. with the number of universities including in the ranking for the first time (204 vs.198).[14] China is also home to the two best Asia's universities with Tsinghua and Peking Universities, ranked at 23rd and 24th respectively in the world, according to the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[15] Laws regulating the system of education include the Regulation on Academic Degrees, the Compulsory Education Law, the Teachers Law, the Education Law, the Law on Vocational Education, and the Law on Higher Education. See also: Law of the People's Republic of China. Although Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Macao and Hong Kong outperformed all other countries in the world and achieved the highest top scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment,[16] and Chinese high school students won multiple gold medals every year consistently at many International Science Olympiad Competitions like the International Biology Olympiad,[17] the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics,[18] the International Olympiad in Informatics,[19] the International Earth Science Olympiad,[20] the International Mathematical Olympiad,[21] the International Physics Olympiad[22] and the International Chemistry Olympiad,[23] China's educational system has been criticized for its
