Off the wire
• Weather forecast for world cities -- June 30  • Weather forecast for major Chinese cities, regions -- June 30  • Xiao Tian investigation not to impact Beijing's bid for 2022 Winter Olympics, says official  • 1st LD Writethru: Roadside bomb blast kills 1 police, wounds 11 in Afghanistan  • Feature: Music serves as bridge for China-Britain cultural exchanges  • 1st LD Writethru: Greece will not repay loan installment to IMF Tuesday: Greek FinMin  • Urgent: Roadside bomb blast hits police van in Afghanistan, killing or injuring a dozen people  • Urgent: Greece will not repay loan installment to IMF Tuesday: Greek FinMin  • FLASH: GREECE WILL NOT PAY LOAN INSTALLMENT TO IMF TUESDAY: GREEK FINMIN  • Roundup: NATO convoy attacked in Kabul, Taliban claims responsibility  
You are here: 　 Home

China Exclusive: Academic Titans clash over top students

Xinhua, June 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

For those who aspire high, places at Peking and Tsinghua universities are a dream worth fighting for, but for China's top scorers, it is the universities who are fighting for them.

A war between China's two top universities for the best students has been the subject of China's latest online polemic for the past two days.Recruitment teams in southwest China's Sichuan province from the two universities have accused each other of poaching the best candidates with offers of cash or other sweetners.

The embarrassing squabble has taken place in the full public glare, fought out on the august establishments' Sina Weibo accounts: It's war by social media.

The clash, or at least scuffle, of the Titans soon attracted the attention of a Chinese public ever eager for a new bone of online contention to chew upon, and the "official" posts were forwarded and commented on thousands of times.

Both universities have since deleted the offending posts and promised to behave in a manner befitting such paragons from Monday afternoon, perhaps even going so far as to recruit students transparently and on merit alone!

Weibo users expressed their widespread disgust that China's top universities would set such a bad example for their students.

"The top two universities, which enjoy excellent reputations in China, should focus on academic research rather than such trivial matters," said one Weibo user.

The Ministry of Education issued a statement on Monday, saying universities are not allowed to lure students with promises of admission, enhanced scholarships or by offering the privilege of changing majors at will.

Peking University told Xinhua that they were extremely concerned by the behavior of their recruitment team and had ordered them to behave in manner appropriate to their task. Tsinghua University gave a similar response.

While the online battle may have been settled peacefully offstage, it is a clear sign that China's college enrollment system must improve.

Universities should be able to conduct real, independent recruitment, not based on admission scores alone, said Xiong Bingqi, vice dean of the 21st century education research institute. A two-way selection mechanism should be established between universities and students to let both sides have the freedom to choose according to their individual needs and expectations.

Around 9.42 million Chinese high school graduates took the college entrance exam this year. It is has become much easier for students to get into to higher education with the growth of colleges and universities in the past 20 years, but competition for elite students and top universities is still quite fierce.

The "battle" has actually sent out some positive signals as it is clear that the present enrollment system must evolve if China's top universities are to compete with the world's best. Endi