International students: Chinese universities told to tighten scrutiny of applicants to plug exam loophole
- Eligibility to be strictly checked to stop locals with foreign passports from bypassing competitive entrance exam process
- Some colleges had been lax in assessing applications because they wanted more ‘overseas students’, according to experts
The education ministry is tightening scrutiny of international applications for undergraduate programmes at Chinese universities in a bid to stop back-door entry by locals.
Across China, students must sit a gruelling entrance examination known as the gaokao to get a university place, while those from overseas do not have to take the exam.
It means the university assessment process is considered less competitive for international students, spurring some wealthy parents to acquire overseas passports for their children through investment immigration schemes. That has seen students gaining international places when they have never lived overseas, or even left China.
To address this, the Ministry of Education on Wednesday said universities would be required to “strictly” check the eligibility of international applicants, starting from next year.
According to the rules, students who have at least one Chinese parent and who acquired foreign nationality at birth must have lived abroad for two or more years in the four years before they apply for an undergraduate programme.
Those who were born in China and later emigrated, acquiring foreign nationality, can apply after they have held their overseas passport for at least four years, and they must have lived abroad for more than two of the four years before they apply, the ministry said.