Abstract: Under the guidance of the national "dual first-rate" strategic plan, "achieving the first class" has become not only a strategic measure for local governments to adjust the structure of higher education and improve its quality, but also a target for local high-level universities to strengthen local characteristics and school-running characteristics to achieve connotative development. Therefore, it is a logical necessity for a university to take "strengthening characteristics to achieve the first class" as a development strategy. Taking Guangdong University of Technology as a case, this paper expounds the inevitable demand of "strengthening characteristics to achieve the first class" as a school development strategy, analyses the bottlenecks and shortcomings, and puts forward the development path.

Key words: strengthening characteristics to achieve the first class, local high level university, inevitable demand, development path, Guangdong University of Technology