China's education and defense authorities are to embark on a campaign to improve university students' military knowledge and skills, according to the Ministry of Education.

The ministry said in a statement Friday that it has worked with the Central Military Commission's National Defense Mobilization Department on a set of guidelines for military courses for university students.

The guidelines have been sent to education departments, universities and military authorities, and will take effect starting August to replace policies first published in 2006, according to the statement.

The statement quoted an unnamed official from the military's Department of Physical, Health and Arts Education explaining that although the Communist Party of China Central Committee, State Council, and Central Military Commission have paid great attention to students' military courses, current guidelines are outdated.

The new guidelines stress that military courses in universities must be based on President Xi Jinping's thoughts on building a strong military and his instructions on education, and must include the Communist Party of China's latest military strategies, as well as its national security perspective.

Such courses will focus on the fundamentals of military knowledge and basic military skills, and will help to foster students' awareness of national defense and national security, as well as promote patriotism and communism.

These guidelines will make military courses more important in students' curricula, and will allow for the courses to be included in universities' overall educational plans for credits, which will encourage students to attach greater significance to them.

In addition the new guidelines will adjust lessons on international strategic situations, advanced military technologies, information-based warfare, as well as military topography, and also add new skills including fistfighting, battlefield medical actions, and protective measures against weapons of mass destruction.