Shanghai Normal University declared on February 18 that they had drafted and issued the first Education Quality Supervision System (EQSS). Applicable to all China's universities and colleges from this semester the EQSS will rule on issues relating to the quality of education on "campuses" and standardize the punishment for cheating in examinations.
 
Indiscipline and cheating in examinations at universities and colleges happen every semester and many students have been punished for that. To ensure the message gets through, some universities and colleges require students to sign a "letter of commitment to honesty" which makes it clear that anyone caught cheating will be expelled from their place of education. However, in most institutes of learning there's no set standard for the punishment.

The new EQSS clearly defines the difference between "violation of discipline" and "cheating" in examinations. The violation of discipline is defined as breaking the rules relating to examinations and not obeying or following instructions given by teachers. This is regarded as not being as serious as cheating.

There are nine issues listed as being a violation of discipline -- included in this is making a noise around examination rooms. The punishment for wrongdoing could be a serious disciplinary warning or even a decision that the result of a particular examination was invalid.

The EQSS defines 12 particular acts of cheating, including bringing material into an examination on paper or electronically; copying answers or relevant material; using electrical equipment with a memory function; destroying an examination paper, answer or other material deliberately; passing or receiving paper with answers; looking at papers of others; passing information by gesturing; using computers to exchange information and leaving the examination room with relevant paperwork.

Those caught cheating will be dealt with in a number of ways, for instances, declaring examination results invalid, handing out "demerits", canceling university degrees, and in more serious cases, expelling the students from colleges and universities.

(China.org.cn by Chen Lin, February 28, 2006)