According to the academic nature, the degree committee of the State Council divided our country education scientific research into 12 fields such as science, engineering, medicine, agriculture and so on and so forth. In addition, every field is divided into several first disciplines and every discipline has some subjects. The degree committee of the State Council assessed some disciplines as the state key disciplines according to their academic level, scientific research, faculty, and the domestic and international status and reputation. Therefore, the number of state key disciplines in one university directly reflects the academic status, scientific research level and the quality of the students.
 
In the universities, Peking University has the absolute advantage with 81 subjects selected, 32 more than second university.
 
The key disciplines of science, liberal arts, and medical rank first in national universities.
 
The list of 81 state key disciplines in Peking University:

Fields	First discipline code	the first discipline	the second discipline
Philosophy	0101	Philosophy	Marxist philosophy
			Chinese Philosophy
			Foreign Philosophy
			Aesthetics
Economics	0201	Theoretical Economics	Political Economy
	0202	Applied Economics	National Economics
Law	0301	Law	Legal Theory
			Constitutional and Administrative Law
			Criminal Law
			Economic Law
	0302	Political	Political Theory
			Scientific Socialism and International Communist Movement
			International Politics
	0303	Sociology	Sociology
			Anthropology
Pedagogic	0402	Psychology	Basic Psychology
Literature	0501	Chinese Language and Literature	Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
			Chinese Philology
			Chinese classical literature
			Chinese Ancient Literature
			Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature
			Comparative Literature and World Literature
	0502	Foreign Language and Literature	English Language and Literature
			Indian Language and Literature
History	0601	History	Archaeology and Museology
			Chinese Ancient History
			World History
Science	0701	Mathematics	Basic Mathematics
			Computational Mathematics
			Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics
			Applied Mathematics
	0702	Physics	Theoretical Physics
			Particle Physics and Nuclear Physics
			Condensed Matter Physics
			Optics
	0703	Chemistry	Inorganic Chemistry
			Analytical Chemistry
			Organic Chemistry
			Physical Chemistry
			Polymer Chemistry and Physics
	0704	Astronomy	Astrophysics
	0705	Geography	Physical Geography
			Human Geography
	0706	Atmospheric Sciences	Meteorology
			Atmospheric Physics and Atmospheric Environment
	0708	Geophysics	Solid Earth Physics
	0709	Geology	Structural geology
	0710	Biology	Botany
			Zoology
			Physiology
			Neurobiology
			Cell Biology
			Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Engineering	0801	Mechanics	General and Fundamental Mechanics
			Solid Mechanics
			Hydromechanics
	0809	Electronic Science and Technology	Physical Electronics
			Microelectronics and Solid State Electronics
	0810	Information and Communication Engineering	Computer Software and Theory
	0812	Computer Science and Technology	Computer Software and Theory
			Computer Application Technology
	0827	Nuclear Science and Technology	Nuclear Technology and Applications
	0830	Environmental Science and Engineering	Environmental Science
Medicine	1001	Basic Medical	Immunology
			Pathology and Pathophysiology
	1002	Clinical	Internal medicine (cardiovascular disease, blood disease)
			Pediatrics
			Psychiatric and Mental Health
			Dermatology and Venereology
			Surgery (bone, urology)
			Obstetrics and Gynecology
			Ophthalmology
			Oncology
			Sports Medicine
	1003	Stomatology	Clinical Stomatology
	1004	Public Health and Preventive Medicine	Epidemiology and Biostatistics
	1007	Pharmacy	Medicinal Chemistry
			Pharmacognosy
			Pharmacology
Management	1204	Public Administration	Educational Economy and Management
	1205	Library, Information and Records Management	Library science