- Wuhan college gets tough on poor grades and unpaid tuition fees after Ministry of Education orders all scholars to be held to the same standards
A top university in central China has expelled nearly 100 international students amid a national call for colleges to get tougher on students from overseas.
Wuhan University in Wuhan, Hubei province, expelled 92 students from more than 10 countries for problems ranging from poor grades to discipline violations and failure to pay tuition fees, Changjiang Daily reported on Monday.
The expulsions followed warnings to the students a year earlier, the report said, quoting a staff member in the admissions office of the university's School of International Education.
In the past, the university had expelled just one or two overseas students a year, but the number rose this year in response to the Ministry of Education's call to improve standards for overseas students, the staff member was quoted as saying.
"The ministry has attached great importance to international students studying in China. In the past we focused on quantity, but now quality is more important," he said.
Wuhan University has about 3,300 international students from 120 countries and regions, majoring in subjects ranging from social science to medicine.
Rule-breaking foreign students in China will be 'seriously punished'
Under university rules, international students who fail to pay tuition fees on time will not be enrolled, and those who miss more than 20 classes can be withdrawn from courses.
In September last year, the ministry specified requirements for overseas students, ordering universities to hold them to the same standards as local students.
As part of the requirements, universities must strictly record attendance and report those who fail to meet the minimum number of classes to education and immigration authorities.
The ministry said in July that China urgently needed to improve standards in the area, with many international students at Chinese universities not making the academic grade.
While most Chinese students heading overseas opt for colleges in Europe, North America or Australia, most students coming into China were from the developing world, according to ministry data.
Last year, nearly 60 per cent of China's half a million foreign students were from Asia, while about 16 per cent were from Africa.
The top source of students was South Korea, which last year accounted for more than a tenth of the total, according to the ministry.
The ministry also barred 16 tertiary institutions from enrolling foreign students last year over admissions and visa violations.
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