Several Shanghai universities are giving boys a 10-point advantage over girls in the coming college entrance exam.

University officials said the move aimed to address the serious gender imbalance among students.

Shanghai Teachers University, one of the renowned normal universities in the city, said it will try to keep the number of male students at no less than 40 percent of the total freshmen intake this year.

"We are always striving to attract more boys to our normal majors. Offering preferential admission policies is the only solution we could think of," said Xiang Jiaxiang, vice president of the university.

Shanghai International Studies University also hinted it would grant advantages to boys.

Boys applying to study at SISU will have priority over girls with the same score in the entrance examination. The university will also lower some admission requirements - such as oral English ability and health conditions - for boys, said a SISU official.

Boys have long tended to shun art majors or female-dominated professions such as teaching, which has led to a serious gender imbalance in local arts-featuring universities.

SISU said girls accounted for 72 percent of its students. The proportion is up to 90 percent in local normal universities' English or literature departments, officials said.

"I always feel that I'm an alien when sitting in a class surrounded by girls. It's really very embarrassing sometimes," said Sun Xiaojian, a sophomore at SISU.

Xiang said the gender imbalance will have a negative impact on students' healthy development and hamper universities' goal of being balanced and comprehensive.

However, the preferential policies aroused strong opposition from local female students.

"It's absolutely unfair," said Zhou Fei, a local high school graduate who plans to enter for STU's business English department.

"Since girls put as much or even more effort into our study, why should we be considered inferior?"

Just because boys lagged behind their female peers in exams, everyone should compete on their own ability, Zhou said.

Xie xialing, a sociologist at Fudan University, said the policies were in response to social demand, rather than discrimination on females.

But universities should closely study why males would turn away from them, Xie said.

(eastday.com April 24, 2004)