Summary

China's Ministry of Education has recently announced a new policy on student enrolment, to be known as the Strong Foundation Plan. This replaces a previous policy on autonomous recruitment which allowed country's leading universities to enrol a small proportion of their undergraduate students through criteria other than the Gaokao. The new policy reduces the number of universities that may recruit students through alternative channels and requires that Gaokao scores make up at least 85 per cent of universities' weighting in admissions decisions.

This policy change comes after a significant reduction in the scope of autonomous recruitment plans last year, when the Ministry of Education limited the factors that could be taken into account and many universities reduced their autonomous recruitment quotas.

The new Strong Foundation Plan has broadly similar goals to the autonomous recruitment system it replaces, aiming to help universities select and cultivate leading talent and to "actively explore a multi-dimensional assessment and evaluation model". Like its predecessor it is limited to a number of top universities and allows these universities to take factors other than the Gaokao into account when recruiting students. However, there are also some significant differences:

* The number of universities included in the Strong Foundation Plan is only 36, compared to 90 universities which set quotas for autonomous recruitment in 2019. These are the same 36 universities as the list of "Class A" universities included in the World Class Universities and Disciplines project at the whole-institution level.

 * The non-Gaokao factors universities may consider under the Strong Foundation Plan are "overall student quality", based on recommendations from the headteacher of the student's school, and performance in the university's own examinations and interviews. The university should assign a numerical score to applicants' performance and consider this alongside their Gaokao score, with Gaokao performance accounting for at least 85 per cent of the total score.

 * The Strong Foundation Plan encourages universities to focus on particular subject areas, including national strategic priorities and their own areas of expertise, with a particular concentration on "mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, philosophy, ancient literature, and other related subjects". Universities may also create new disciplines that recruit all of their students through the Strong Foundation Plan. However, students recruited through this plan may not switch to different subject areas after entering the university.

As in the previous autonomous recruitment policy, universities must set quotas for recruitment under the Strong Foundation Plan, which should be approved by the Ministry of Education and published by the end of March. At the moment the proportion of students that will be recruited through these channels is still unclear.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, British Council International Education Services

The increased importance of overall Gaokao scores in the new policy will disadvantage students who have strengths in one particular field but who are academically weaker overall, particularly those whose advantages are in fields not seen as core national priorities. This may make overseas education more attractive to these students and create opportunities for UK HEIs.

At the same time, it is important to note that the policy change will only affect a minority of students at a small number of Chinese universities. Most students will continue to be recruited entirely based on Gaokao scores, or under other policies that apply to particular fields such as art degrees.

The policy also talks about using the initial list of universities as a pilot for potential future changes. Over the longer term it is worth paying attention to developments in this area which may affect the way that students are recruited to Chinese universities more broadly.

Sources

Ministry of Education - Opinions of the Ministry of Education on the Pilot Work of Enrolment Reform of Basic Disciplines in Some Universities (in Chinese): http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A15/moe_776/s3258/202001/t20200115_415589.html