China promotes gaokao equality

Students review for the coming national college entrance examination at in Jinjiang city, Fujian province, June 3, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China plans to overhaul university enrollment quotas as the government engages in the most "comprehensive" reforms since 1977.

Facing vast regional differences in quality and access to universities, the government is planning a sweeping rework of the education system by 2020, aiming to ease college entrance exam pressures and enable more enrollment from underdeveloped areas.

It will be "the most comprehensive" reform since China resumed the national college entrance examination in 1977 following the decade-long Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), said Du Yubo, vice minister of education, at a news conference Thursday.

College enrollment opportunities vary in different parts of China due largely to gaps in development and population. The government has worked on narrowing regional disparity in education for years, Du said.

The average enrollment rate following the 2013 college entrance exam was 76 percent, with the lowest region enrolling 70 percent. The six percent gap between the highest and lowest enrollment rate was down from a 17 percent gap in 2007.

Du says their target will be "less than four" by 2017.

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