Sixty universities and colleges received yellow cards from the Ministry of Education, Ji Ping, a senior ministry official, told a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, meaning they would have to restrict enrollment and increase spending on construction.
   
Ji said the red card/yellow card mechanism helps a situation where "people's demand for education is great yet providers are still making only unbalanced progress."
   
Since the late 1980s, institutions that did not meet basic standards have been "carded" through the scheme. In 1991, a total of 144 universities and colleges received red or yellow cards, 30 of which were closed.
   
Ji said the higher education student population rose to 13.3 million in 2004, six times that of 1991. In the meantime, the overall quality of providers improved despite evaluation standards being increased twice. The number "carded" remained an average of 20 to 30 each year.
   
Ji explained the increase to 60 as being due to even tighter criteria this year, with a heavier focus on teachers' academic degrees.

But Ji added, "Higher education resources should be further optimized, and we should continue to strengthen government administration."
   
The ministry's evaluations are an important reference for students, who apply for universities before taking college entrance exams in June. This year, the list came out one month ahead of last year.
   
"We hope the timely and transparent information will better help the students," Ji said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2005)