By Hu Lele (胡乐乐)
Issue 581, Aug 6, 2012
Opinion, Page 16
Translated by Wang Fan
Original article: [Chinese]

Results from this year’s Gaokao - the annual Chinese college entrance exam - have once again created controversy over “regional discrimination” in the university admissions process. This year Tsinghua University enrolled 295 Beijing examinees, a 45.3 percent increase from last year. And 294 Beijing students were admitted to Peking University, a 33.6 percent increase.

Why were so many Beijing graduates enrolled at these top schools?

“Local students actively chose Tsinghua as their intended university, and Beijing had a large pool of high-quality candidates,” said Yu Shijie, deputy director of Tsinghua News Center. “This was the reason for this year’s enrollment increase in Beijing.”

However, Yu’s argument doesn’t hold water. Were students in other regions less active when choosing top universities? Were they of lower quality compared to Beijing candidates?

In 1998 “Project 985” was launched by then President Jiang Zemin at Peking University. The goal of the initiative was to raise the status of Chinese higher education through heavy funding by both the central and local governments to 39 key universities. Peking and Tsinghua universities were labelled the only “Tier 1” schools and slated to receive the most funding.

Project 985 schools are supposed to take an unbiased stance in their admissions. However, because the central government’s budget is increasingly strained and land for Peking and Tsinghua Universities belongs to Beijing, the universities are relying more on the local government for funding and housing. In return, they’re allocating larger enrollment quotas for local students each year. Similar problems plague the other Project 985 schools.

One possible solution to this problem is to help these universities to get rid of their reliance on local governments and truly become national. The central government should adjust fiscal and housing policies so that universities aren’t unfairly influenced in their admissions process. At the same time, financial support from enterprises, alumni and other individuals should be encouraged. Fair and impartial admissions can only be expected if universities are financially independent of local governments.

Undoubtedly this will be a fierce battle between national and local interests. Fair education promotion by the central government has long been impeded by local parties. The complete nationalization of Project 985 universities won’t be easy.

Local governments have been justifying regional preference in university admissions by saying their contributions in housing, medical, and educational benefits for faculty members warrants special consideration for local students. This is nonsense. Such preference isn’t given at well-known international universities. Harvard doesn’t admit more students from Massachusetts, nor does Stanford University give any privileges to Californians. Besides, the economic benefits created by Project 985 universities in local regions through employment, tourism, scientific research and culture far surpasses what local governments have invested.

The complete “delocalization” of Project 985 universities is of great necessity in promoting fair and impartial admissions.

The author is a lecturer in the Education Department of Ocean University of China