New college enrollment plan to boost basic studies

Top universities announced plans to strengthen basic disciplines.

The "Qiangji Initiative" will select students to major in basic arts and sciences, to further develop the talent pool.

The initiative, the first of its kind, was launched by the Ministry of Education this year. It focuses on students with talent in the basic disciplines, including math, physics, chemistry, biology, history and philosophy.

The enrollment quota for the 36 universities participating in the plan ranges from 30 to more than 200.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Science and Technology of China, and Nanjing University have published their plans to enroll a total of 210 students each through this initiative.

Some universities, such as the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and the Ocean University of China, will only take 30 students each.

According to the ministry, students needed to apply for the initiative in April. After they take the national college entrance examination, or gaokao, in early July, the 36 universities will release the list of students who qualify for the next round of selection, based on their gaokao scores.

Students will then take separate tests and interviews by universities, which set different acceptance ratios.

Tsinghua University and Peking University will include as many as five times more applicants than the enrollment quota. And about 10 universities, such as Fudan University, will let three students compete for one admission.

The final evaluation of the participants will be based on a combination of their gaokao results, the results of their basic discipline tests conducted by universities and their personal comprehensive quality records provided by their high schools.

Pan Weijie, director of admissions office of Fudan University, says that the school will pay attention not only to candidates' gaokao scores, but also to their comprehensive quality results which were tested through interviews, as well as with reference to the materials provided by high schools.

The university will give gaokao scores the highest weight in the evaluation to guarantee fairness and ensure equality, he says.

Li Hong contributed to the story.