BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to enhance the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in universities and improve Party building there.

Xi made the remarks in an instruction to a two-day national meeting on Party building in higher learning institutions which was concluded on Monday.

"Enhancing CPC leadership and Party building in the higher learning institutions is a fundamental guarantee for running socialist universities with Chinese features well," he said.

Xi said the higher-learning institutions shoulder the important tasks of studying, researching and publicizing Marxism, as well as training builders and successors of the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics.

The core socialist values should be incorporated into the whole teaching process while ideological guidance should be enhanced to ensure the leadership in the universities' ideological work, he added.

Efforts should be made to stick to and improve the president responsibility system under the leadership of Party committee, Xi said.

According to a circular released by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee in October, the system is a power matrix in which presidents and other administrative officials accept and implement decisions made by Party committees.

Party committees are in charge of college reform, stability and ideology while presidents should focus on teaching, scientific research and daily operation of the school.