All college and university recruitment ads will have to be approved by Shanghai's Ministry of Education before they can run in local newspapers or be broadcast on TV or radio, the Shanghai Education Commission announced yesterday.

 

Schools that publish ads without approval will not be allowed to enroll new students in the following year, a rule that is aimed almost exclusively at privately run colleges.

 

The ministry's examination of ads is aimed at ensuring any information about admission quotas, tuition charges and curriculum is correct.

 

"The requirement was initiated to protect students' interests and ensure a fair and transparent university admission process," said Zhang Minxuan, the commission's vice director who oversees university enrollment and graduation.

 

Zhang said the regulation was inspired by a large number of complaints from students at privately run colleges outside the city, who said schools were boosting profits by enrolling more students than allowed by government quotas.

 

The Ministry of Education or local education commissions set quotas on the number of students any university or college can enroll and award a degree or diploma to.

 

"Those colleges claimed in their recruitment ads that they can enroll more students than the government-planned number and award them the same degrees," Zhang said. "But that's just a lie to attract more applicants."

 

Worse, the misleading ads could even lead to further chaos once students discover they can't acquire a government-recognized degree, he said.

 

"So we have to take precautionary examination measures beforehand," he added.

 

More than 140,000 students in the city are expected to sit the college entrance exam this year, about the same number as last year.

 

(Shanghai Daily January 6, 2007)