Payouts planned in campus deaths

Guangdong province is planning to introduce a new system for awarding compensation to the families of university and college students who die on campus to prevent relatives from seeking excessive payments.

The system will set standards for handling compensation claims, according to Guangzhou's New Express Daily. However, the report does not give further details.

Guangdong's Department of Education is preparing guidebooks on the subject for the province's universities and colleges.

The new system comes after a growing number of deaths by suicide or in accidents on campuses in the province, the newspaper said.

According to official statistics, 12 students died in the mega-university city in Guangzhou's Panyu district alone in the past few years.

Most committed suicide because of the heavy pressure they felt because of their studies, employment concerns, the financial burden faced by their families or love affairs.

In some cases, universities and colleges were asked for excessive amounts of compensation by family members.

Earlier this year, members of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference asked the education department to introduce a new unified compensation system for students who die on campus. In addition, they said, a special task force should be set up to handle such cases.

Guangdong, which has 141 registered universities and colleges, is expected to become the first province to introduce such a system on the Chinese mainland.

Universities and colleges are authorized to set up special funds and social organizations to help deal with such cases.

Zheng Fenming, director of the Institute of Modernization Strategy at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said the system will guide universities and colleges through the compensation process.

"It is better that universities and colleges have a system and a standard for reference when dealing with these cases and paying compensation to family members," Zheng said. "It will help to improve the management of the campuses and the students."

Zheng is also a member of Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPPCC.

Fu Jingqing, a junior at Ji'nan University in Guangzhou, said the new compensation standards were good news for universities and colleges, but not for students.

"Life cannot be calculated by money, life is priceless, and therefore universities and colleges should not use the system and the standards to negotiate with the families of students who die," she said.

"Universities and colleges should further improve their management standards and take effective precautions to prevent tragedies from happening on campuses."

Universities and colleges should not use the system and the standards to negotiate with the families of students who die."