China universities offer admission to international students through entrance exams

Some time ago, only top universities like Tsinghua University, held entrance examinations for admissions of international students. However, now other universities also require students to undergo proficiency exams held by the government in May.

Many Chinese universities are now admitting international students through entrance examinations held by the education ministry instead of directly giving admission through applications. Earlier, only top universities such as Tsinghua University had this criterion for admission.

Now, China University of Petroleum and the University of International Business and Economics have also announced the requirement.

The examinations will be held in May and June. The international students including Indian students who aspire to study in China and want to join out of 142 different Chinese universities for their undergraduate studies may apply for it. Most schools require candidates to sign up before May 8, said Nguyen Quoc Tu, chairman of the management board of QTEDU, a counselling agency for studying abroad in China, as reported by Express International.

Different schools have separate exams

The examinations would include specialized Chinese subjects (Social Sciences, Economics-Commerce, Science-Technology and Medicine), and fundamental subjects (Math, Physics and Chemistry). The examination will be conducted both in online and offline mode. Those who are outside of China will be able to appear for online exams either on May 25-May 26 or June 1-June 2.

Importance of Chinese universities increasing with modernisation

As per Researchgate, the significance of Chinese universities is increasing as the country undergoes modernisation. There are two levels of Chinese universities - the first category awards undergraduate diplomas and bachelor's degrees following four years of study, whereas the second group, whereas the second group awards undergraduate diplomas after two or three years.

The entrance examination consists of three compulsory subjects - Chinese, English and mathematics—and optional subjects (biology, chemistry, geography, history, physics and politics). Entrance examination papers are classified into two sections: Part I, an objective test that consists of multiple-choice questions and is marked by computers, and Part II which contains filling in blanks, calculation, essays and writing and an English oral test (Liu, 1994).

The style of questions in the examinations is also criticised because it focuses more on theory, and subject knowledge rather than the problem-solving attitude. Another problem is the immense psychological pressure on students to excel in the exam.

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