Ningbo enjoys long history in education. Provincial-level schools and county-level schools have been established since Tang and Song Dynasty. Ningbo is a cradle for famous scholars and known as a City of Culture and Education. Since the reform and opening-up, education in Ningbo persists on reform, innovation and balanced progress to realize the rapid development.

In 2015, there are 2,092 educational institutions (including kindergartens) with 1.313 million students and 107,000 teaching staff Among these institutions, there are 15 higher education institutions with 209,000 students (including 53,000 students in adult education) and 11,700 teaching staff. There are 270 college students among 10,000 people in Ningbo. The number of secondary vocational schools (excluding technical school) reaches 50 with 69,000 students and 6,235 teaching staff. There are 274,000 students and 29,800 teaching staff studying or working in 289 senior secondary schools. 99.17% of the junior middle school graduates enter into the senior secondary schools for further education. There are also 480,200 students and 24,000 teaching staff in 448 primary schools. 280,200 children and 35,000 teaching staff members study or work in 1,278 kindergartens. The number of special schools amounts to 11 with 1,020 students and 317 teaching staff members. All the 11 counties (cities) in Ningbo have passed the National Compulsory Education Equalization Evaluation, and 6 of them have passed the Education Preliminary Modernization Evaluation in Zhejiang Province.