China maintains 'balanced' male to female ratio inuniversity admission( Xinhua) 08:09, September 26, 2013 An education official said on Wednesday that China maintained a balanced male to femaleratio in university admissions, following media reports of gender discrimination.
The ratio of female applications and admissions stood at 50.3 percent and 51.9 percentrespectively in the 2013 college entrance exam, according to an official from the Ministry ofEducation.
On Sept. 1, five women wrote a letter of complaint to the ministry, stating that femalecandidates were discriminated against in admissions to 11 prestigious universities andalleging breaches to ministry regulations.
On the same day, 11 female lawyers also sent an open letter to the ministry, askingwhether the enrollment procedures at the universities were authorized by the ministryand asking for clarification of potential violations.
"In accordance with the law, the Ministry of Education cannot authorize fixed male/femaleratios in the university admissions," the official said, adding that the ministry attachedgreat importance to equal rights in education.
University authorities were told not to roll out regulations to set male to female ratiosexcept for military academies, national defense and public security colleges, according to acircular issued by the ministry.
However, universities have the right to set specific male to female ratios in accordance withlaws when students are applying for majors such as geology, mining and navigation, asChina's law on the protection of women's rights and interests does not allow women to takesuch jobs.
In addition, it is also hard for universities to arrange proper internships for female studentsstudying such majors, the official said.
"In order to ensure fair and transparent admissions, the ministry and education authoritieshave reviewed enrollment guidelines for all universities this year, and asked them topublicize enrollment information." the official added.
（Editor：DuMingming、Zhang Qian） Related reading
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