More enrollment for rural students as China eyes higher education's role in poverty relief
BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Wang
Tian, an 18-year-old girl from one of the most underdeveloped counties in
northwest China's Qinghai Province, never anticipated studying law at Peking
University.
The stunning twist in her life is
largely thanks to a national program to provide poor rural students with the
chance to access top universities.
With vast disparities in teaching
standards among different regions, high school graduates from underdeveloped
areas once had very little chance of making into the best
universities.
A sweeping reworking of the higher
education system has changed all that and students from underdeveloped areas now
compete on a more equal footing with those from more affluent parts of the
country.
Enrollment quotas have increased
recruitment of students from central, western and remote rural
areas.
On April 14, the Ministry of
Education asked top universities to do more to find students from rural or poor
backgrounds. Universities were asked to enroll 10 percent more disadvantaged
students in 2017. Strict supervision and greater transparency will ensure the
suitability and eligibility of candidates.
Since 2014, students from rural areas
have been allowed lower entry test scores and have had two percent of 95 key
universities' admissions designated to them.
Another program in poverty-stricken
areas, found university places for 183,000 students from impoverished counties
from 2012 to 2015.
In 2013-2015, the increase in
enrollment of these students in key universities remained above 10 percent each
year.
HIGHER EDUCATION, BETTER
FUTURE
In China, one child's success in the
college entrance examination and future career sometimes mean an escape from
poverty for an entire family.
To recruit more students from rural
and poor areas, universities have simplified enrollment and given financial
support to students from families with difficulties.
With an annual household income of
about 15,000 yuan (2,200 U.S.dollars) and a brother also studying in the
university, there was no possibility her family could have afforded Wang Tian's
tuition.
Grants and scholarship from the
university and other sponsors total 18,000 yuan which covers all of her tuition
and living expenses, Wang told Xinhua, adding that she will try to find a job
immediately after graduation to support her family.
Her thoughts were echoed by Liu Hai
from east China's Anhui Province, a beneficiary of the rural university students
assistance program, who now devotes his time to helping others.
After leaving Beijing Institute of
Technology (BIT) in 2014 with a master's degree, he chose to become a grassroots
civil servant in an impoverished county in southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region.
During his childhood, Liu's family
could barely make ends meet and borrowed money from everywhere to pay the
tuition for his first degree. Immediately after graduating, he found a job and
paid off the family debt of around 80,000 yuan. For his master's, thanks to
assistance from the university and national student aid grants, he no longer
needed to ask for money from home.
Favoring hard-working rural students
helps them succeed in career and greatly enhances their family's living
standards. Their example is also a tremendous encouragement to other kids in
rural areas, said Liu.
Apart from the favorable enrollment
policy and grants, some universities have found other ways to help students from
disadvantaged backgrounds.
One-to-one services in career
guidance are now common in many colleges to help them to find their desired jobs
and make a new start both for themselves and the families.
Colleges such as BIT also have
programs to help these students visit foreign universities at no
cost.
"These students would never have the
chance of traveling overseas given their families' finances, so we came up with
ways to help them", said Sun Xiyan, director of the student-support office at
BIT.
Money has also been poured into
improving teaching in poor, rural areas to eradicate poverty at its
source.
The key to guaranteeing equal
educational rights lies in the improvement of local education, which requires
more talented teachers, said Pang Lijuan, deputy director of Chinese institute
of education policy study with Beijing Normal University.
By the end of 2015, the central
budget had provided over one million rural teachers in poor areas with
additional living allowances totaling 7.37 billion yuan.
The income of rural teachers has
continuously increased and the job has become more appealing over the years,
attracting more graduates.