CHINA

More rural youngsters entering top universities

China has launched three special projects to broaden rural students’ access to universities, helping 100,000 poor youngsters enter their dream universities in 2017, reports People’s Daily Online.

According to statistics from China’s Ministry of Education, thanks to those special projects, 8,500 more students from the country’s remote regions have been enrolled into universities in 2017, with an annual growth rate of 9.3%. China’s national, regional and collegiate plans have ensured 64,000, 27,000, and 9,500 rural students, respectively, have entered ‘ivory towers’, offering more enrolment quotas to students from poor areas.

In an effort to tackle the country’s education inequality, Chinese authorities have set lower entry test scores for students from rural areas since 2014, allocating 2% of the admission offers at 95 key universities to them. From 2013 to 2015, the increase in enrolment of these students in key universities remained above 10% each year, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Full report on the en.people.cn site