Admissions offices of China’s top two universities sparred on social networking on allegations of questionable practices in recruitment for top students.A flare-up between Peking University and Tsinghua University occurred just as high school graduates are receiving their results for the national university entrance exams, known as the “gaokao.”In Sichuan, a Peking University admissions office in the southwestern province posted a message on China’s version of Twitter called Sina Weibo, that officials from an unnamed university were calling top-scoring students who had chosen PKU, telling them that PKU would not let them choose their own majors.The PKU admissions office in Sixhuan added that the unnamed university should not harass students applying to PKU.Tsinghua University’s provincial admissions office then wrote in response: "Starting yesterday morning, you started harassing students who have already decided to apply to Tsinghua and offered them lots of money."The posts, and subsequent allegations lobbed by both sides on giving money to lure high-scoring gaokao test-takers, were deleted.The gaokao scores remain largely the sole standard for admissions offices, and Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said universities continue to place too much focus only on the gaokao scores of students.For Caixin Online, this is Diana Bates.
