| Biswo |
Posted
on 28-Aug-01 01:54 PM
Those interested in China may find the news below useful. Jiaoda means
Shanghai Jiaotong(communication) University, which is also an alma mater of
president Jiang Zemin.
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List Reveals How Privileged Youths Won Spots at a Top Chinese
University
By JIANG XUEQUIN
Shanghai
A confidential list of students admitted to the prestigious Shanghai
Communications University, along with information about their qualifications
and the influential people who pushed for their admission, has been
circulating on the Internet in China. The leaked list has renewed public
debate over allegations of corruption in university admissions.
In China, students are supposed to be admitted into universities based
on their performance on the national college entrance examination. Ordinary
Chinese believe that the system is not as fair as it purports to be, and
that the elite can use their money or power to win admission for their
children at elite universities. That belief is likely to be reinforced by
the list, which has since been the subject of reports in Southern Weekend, a
Chinese publication known for its investigative journalism.
The Internet document gives the names of 82 students, as well as each
student's score on the national college entrance examination, the department
at Jiaoda (as the university is known) that they were admitted into, and the
names of those who recommended each student for admission.
The list illustrates how wealthy parents seek powerful patrons, who
then manipulate the university admissions process to secure places for
privileged students at the best departments of one of China's elite
universities. The list implicates Jiaoda's president, Xie Shenwu, who
recommended that a student who scored poorly be admitted into Jiaoda's best
department.
Only one of the university's vice presidents did not recommend a
student for admission, and the list also includes requests from the head of
the university's discipline committee. A host of Ministry of Education
officials were named, and the most powerful officials to be implicated are
the head of the Shanghai police force, Wu Zhiming, and the city's
newly-appointed vice-mayor, Yan Junqi.
Jiaoda officials have disputed the way the list has been
characterized. "It's a working list -- a record of possible candidates for
admission -- so it can't prove anything," Jiang Hong, the deputy head of the
university's public-relations department told Southern Weekend. "Every
university in China has such a working list."
The university president declined comment.
But Southern Weekend quoted another university official, who requested
anonymity, as saying, "We're surprised that this secret list got out, and
this will create many problems."
Wu Si, a sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said
that every university has done what Jiaoda has done, and it's Jiaoda's bad
luck that it was caught. "This is natural in a society which emphasizes
interpersonal relations," said Mr. Wu. "But ordinary people can't accept
this sort of thing when it comes to the national examination, because this
can determine a person's destiny in China."
Jiaoda is Shanghai's best technical and engineering university, and
its alumni include Jiang Zemin, China's president.
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