The government will evaluate a proposal put forward by a non-government organization to reform the country's national university entrance exam system, a Ministry of Education spokesperson said.

 

The proposal, the first of its kind in the country, was unveiled on July 18 by the 21st Century Education Development Research Institute, a non-government and non-profitable organization.

 

"The Ministry of Education appreciates the efforts made by the research institute for university entrance exam reform, and will take into consideration this proposal and opinions from various walks of life," the Beijing Morning Post quoted the spokesperson as saying yesterday.

 

"But the reform will proceed in a gradual manner and cannot be completed overnight," the spokesperson said, adding that "one proposal is insufficient to solve all the problems".

 

Yang Dongping, director of 21st Century Education Development Research Institute, said last Wednesday that: "The national university entrance exam needs reform, and we hope the government can consider our proposal and welcome more people from various circles to voice their opinions".

 

"This year marks the 30th anniversary of the resumption of the national university entrance exam, we need some tangible efforts to commemorate the occasion instead of only taking a retrospective view," he said.

 

According to the 10-article proposal, a multi-evaluation system for students' overall capability should be established, based on the national university entrance exam, students' scores at senior high schools and extra-curriculum performance.

 

Besides the national university entrance exam, the proposal said, universities should hold their own exams and interviews before applicants are enrolled.

 

The proposal stressed that the students should have greater rights to choose universities because they pay for their university education and find jobs on their own upon graduation.

 

The national university entrance exam is important because it is the only chance for most high school graduates to have access to higher education.

 

Universities stopped enrolling students during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, and resumed the exam in 1977. Since then, 36 million people have matriculated. However, the exam has been branded "unscientific" as it relies solely on written testing with no evaluation of overall capability. Critics say it has led to China's test-oriented education system and should be abolished.

 

(China Daily July 23, 2007)