The Ministry of Education recently gave 22 universities across the country greater freedom in admissions policies.
In a trial run this year, the universities are trying to test a system of selecting students by interviews and background checks, instead of just relying on entrance exam scores.
This means applicants who do not get a passing score could still have a chance of being admitted.
Key high schools will recommend their best students as always. The universities will then interview applicants, do a background check, and make a decision based on their own standards.
Universities involved include Peking and Tsinghua in Beijing, Fudan in Shanghai and schools in other six cities. Different universities will set different standards for applicants.
According to Li Xianshu, the deputy director of Zhongshan University's admissions office, they will recruit 80 more students.
Qualified candidates are middle school students with provincial-level awards or from the top 15 per cent of their class.
The China University of Science and Technology will admit 75 freshmen this year based on its own standards, or 4 per cent of this year's 1,860 incoming students. The university will design its own test for mathematics, physics and English, according to Xinhua News Agency.
In truth, the new application process will apply to only 5 per cent of the total number of incoming students at each university.
"This move is seen as a challenge to the long-standing policy of using the national entrance exam score as the only standard," said a recruiting officer at Tsinghua.
The schools involved are: Peking, Tsinghua, Renmin, Beijing Normal, and China Political Science and Law universities in Beijing; Fudan, Tongji, Shanghai Jiaotong, East China Science and Technology, and East China Normal universities in Shanghai; Nanjing, Southeast, Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing Technology, Hohai, China Pharmacy, and Nanjing Agricultural universities in Nanjing; and Zhejiang University, the China University of Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Technology, Zhongshan University and Chongqing University.
(China Daily news 03/13/2003)
