Reforms for College Entrance Examination

The National Outline for Educational Reform and Development is bringing change to China's annual College Entrance Examination.

It suggests new ways to improve the examination and enrollment system, proposing separate exams for different kinds of colleges.

One of the key points of the Outline is to broaden the enrollment process to include factors beyond just the examination.

Currently, a student's score on the College Entrance Examination is the only factor determining his or her future. Universities set minimum scores in screening prospective students, and only those whose scores are higher than the minimum are admitted.

The Outline suggests that universities choose students based on not only the results of the entrance exam, but also other criteria.

For example, if a student's score is lower than his peers, but he shows great potential in the subject he's applying for, then the college might consider admitting him despite the lower score.

The Outline also proposes that some subjects, as a pilot project, carry out multiple exams each year. This means that if a student fails an exam, he may have other chances at the exam in the coming semester.

And to improve the system for higher education, China will gradually classify exams according to different kinds of education.

Currently almost all the high school graduates in China take the College Entrance Exam. While some are applying for top universities like Peking and Tsinghua universities, others seek to attend advanced vocational schools.

The Outline suggests that different kinds of education have different entrance exams. It states that entrance exams for colleges and universities should be organized by the Ministry of Education, while exams for vocational schools should be organized by provincial educational departments.

As a next step, the Outline calls for a committee to conduct research on the reform and to implement pilot projects try out some of its new initiatives.