National Higher Education Entrance Examination
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| National Higher Education Entrance Examination | |||||||
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| Simplified Chinese: | 中华人民共和国 全国普通高等学校招生入学考试 |
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| Higher education exam | |||||||
| Chinese: | 高考 | ||||||
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The National Higher Education Entrance Examination is an academic examination held annually in the mainland of the People's Republic of China. This examination is a prerequisite for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level. It is usually taken by students in their last year of secondary school, although there has been no age restriction since 2001.
In 2006, a record high of 9.5 million people applied for tertiary education entry in China. 8.8 million of them (93%) are scheduled to take the national entrance exam; 27,600 (0.28%) have been exempted from standardized exams (保送) due to exceptional or special talent. The rest (0.7 million) will take other standardized entrance exams, such as those designed for adult education students.
The overall mark received by the student is generlaly a weighted sum of their subject marks. The maximum possible mark varies wildly from year to year, and also varies from province to province.
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[edit] History
Tertiary education entrance examinations started in the early years when modern universities emerged in China, and continued after the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 until the Cultural Revolution began in 1966 when the normal pace of the education system and other sectors of life were disrupted.
During the following ten years, the Down to the Countryside Movement, initiated by Mao Zedong, forced both senior and junior secondary school graduates, the so-called "intellectual youths", to go to the country and work as farmers in the villages. Against the backdrop of world revolution, millions of such young people, some full of almost-religious fervor, joined the ranks of farmers, working and living alongside them. But they were soon disillusioned by the reality of hard conditions in the countryside.
In early 1970s, Mao Zedong realized that internal political struggle had taken too big a toll on him as well as the nation, and decided to resume the operation of universities. But the students were selected based on political and family backgrounds rather than academic achievements. This practice continued until the death of Mao in September, 1976. In late 1977, Deng Xiaoping, then under Hua Guofeng, the heir apparent of Mao, officially resumed the traditional examination based on academics, and hence forth, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination continued until today.
The first such examination after the Cultural Revolution took place in late 1977, and it was a history-making event. There was no limit on the age and official educational background of examinees, and consequently, all the hopefuls accumulated during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution and those who simply wanted to try their luck came on the scene of the examination. The youngest were in their early teens and, the oldest in their late thirties. The questions in the examinations were designed by the individual provinces.
Eventually, only about one percent of the examinees nationwide were admitted to colleges. Those who succeeded really had their days. They were regarded as the fortune-favored children, and university campuses were described as the Eden of Contemporary Youths.[citation needed]
Starting from 1978, the examination was uniformly designed by the Ministry of Education, and all the students across the country took the exact same examination.
In recent years, however, many provinces are allowed to customise their own examinations.
Although today's admission rate is much higher than 1977, 1978 and before 1990s, it is still fairly low compared to the availability of higher education in Western world countries. Consequently, examination is highly competitive, and the prospective examinees and their parents experience enormous pressure. For the majority, it is a watershed that divides two dramatically different lives.
[edit] Procedure
The National Higher Education Entrance Examination is not uniform across the country, but administered uniformly within each province of China or direct-controlled municipality instead. The National Higher Education Entrance Examination is graded on a scale from 100-900 points. It is arranged at the end of the spring semester and secondary school graduates across the country take the examination simultaneously, over a three day period. Prior to 2003, the examination was held in July, but has since been moved to the month of June. This move was made in consideration of the adverse effect of hot weather on those students living in southern China and possible floods during the rainy season which the month of July is well within.
In most places, students list their university or college preferences prior to the exam (a few regions allow modifications after students learn their score). The preferences are given in four tiers (early admissions, key universities, regular universities, technical colleges), each of which can contain 4-6 choices in institution and program.
The exam is administered over 3 days. Three subjects are mandatory everywhere: Chinese, Mathematics and a foreign language -- usually English but may also be substituted by Japanese or Russian. The other 6 standard subjects are 3 sciences Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and 3 humanities History, Geography and Political Education[1]. Applicants to science/engineering or art/humanities programs typically take 1-3 from the respective category. Currently, the actual requirement varies from province to provinces.
The mark requirements for entry into a university or college course varies between provinces. In 2006 for example, the minimum score to enter a key university for applicants from Beijing is 516 (total score). By contrast, the minimum score for applicants from Henan province is 591. As a result, there are vast regional differences among acceptance rates simply because of an imbalance of opportunity.
Applicants to some specialist programs are also screened by additional criteria: some art departments (e.g. audition), military and police schools (political screening and physical exam) and some sports programs (tryout).
The examination is essentially the only criterion for tertiary education admissions. A poor performance on the test almost always means giving up on that goal. Students hoping to attend university will spend most of their waking moments studying prior to the exam. If they fail in their first attempt, some of them repeat the last year of high school life and give it another try in the following year. Fear of the test or failing of the test is such that students who can afford to will sometimes go abroad to attend university despite the much higher expense - 15 to 30 times of the expense in China.[citation needed]
[edit] Criticisms
[edit] Rote learning
The education system in mainland China has sometimes been criticized for its emphasis on rote learning. Some critics point out that the examination is basically a test of how much knowledge a student has been able to memorize in his/her years in school. Critical thinking is rarely emphasized in the Chinese classroom, a legacy of Confucianism.[citation needed]
[edit] Corruption
Due to the importance placed on this exam, there has been strong pressure to keep the processes transparent and corruption-free. The government's efforts have not been entirely satisfactory. Leaking of exam content, bribery, and other abuses are still being constantly exposed [2].
[edit] Regional discrimination
A university usually sets a fixed admission quota for each province, with a higher number of students coming from its home province. As the number and quality of colleges is very uneven across China, it is argued that people are being discriminated against during the admission process based on their geographic region. For example, compared to Beijing, Henan province has fewer colleges per capita. Therefore an applicant in Henan needs a significantly higher score than his Beijing counterpart to get into the same college. However, this is similar to the practise of regional universities in other countries which receive subsidies from regional governments in addition to or in place of those received from national governments.
In recent years, varied admission standards have led some families to relocate for the sole purpose of advancing their children's chances of entering university [3].
[edit] Special concessions
There are special concessions for members of ethnic minorities, foreign nationals, persons with family origin in Taiwan, and children of military casulties. Students can also receive bonus marks by achieving high results in academic Olympiads, other science and technology competitions, sporting competitions, as well as "political or moral" distinction.
Some families try to exploit these concessions, especially that for foreign nationals. They immigrate to Vietnam, Singapore, India or another country in order to give their children less stringent university entrance requirements, because the minimum requirement score for international students(students holding a foreign passport)is considerably lower.
[edit] Psychological Pressure
Further and more deep stemming criticisms have been leveled that the testing system is the "most pressure packed examination in the world." Behaviors surrounding the testing period have been extreme under some reports, with doctors in one major Chinese city purportedly prescribing birth control to female students to ensure they were not menstruating at the time of examination. [1] Testing pressure, for some critics, has been linked to faintings, increased drop out rates, and even increasing rates of teenage depression and suicide.
