China has 15 special institutions of higher learning for ethnic minorities: white paper

BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- There are 15 special institutions of higher learning for the ethnic minorities in China, said a white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council Sunday.

According to the paper, titled "China's Ethnic Policy and Common Prosperity and Development of All Ethnic Groups", as soon as the People's Republic of China was founded, the state called to train a large number of minority cadres.

To this end, the state established special institutions of higher learning for such training, it said.

In the 1950s, ten such colleges for the ethic minorities were set up, such as the Central College for Ethnic Minorities and Northwest College for Ethnic Minorities, it said.

Since the launch of the reform and opening-up drive, the state has again established the Hubei College for Ethnic Minorities, North University for Ethnic Minorities and Dalian College for Ethnic Minorities, according to the paper.

"Along with the progress of the times, many of them developed into universities," the paper said. Their enrollment has expanded and academic level constantly enhanced.

According to the paper, the state attaches great importance to the training of various talented people needed in the modernization drive of the minority areas. It rules that institutions of higher learning and secondary vocational schools should appropriately lower the standards and conditions for applicants from the ethnic minorities when enrolling new students, and offer special treatment to applicants from the ethnic minorities with comparatively small populations.

"Every year, tens of thousands of minority applicants are admitted to institutions of higher learning," it said.

The state holds preparatory and regular classes for students of the ethnic minorities in key institutions of higher learning, with an annual enrolment of 30,000 such students, according to the paper.