China's Education Ministry said Thursday no university has the right to withhold a student's graduation or degree certificates on the grounds that they have failed to pay back tuition loans.

 

University and college students who get tuition loans from the government should sign agreements with their universities fixing the time and method of payment, a senior official with the ministry said.

 

In 1999, China's education authority increased enrollments in higher education, allowing around 5 million students to go to college each year.

 

Loans are available to poor students and the government pays the interest on the loan, which has to be paid back in full before graduation.

 

However, the ministry revealed early this month that many Chinese colleges and universities are owed millions of yuan because students are unable to, or choose not to, pay back tuition loans.

 

"We have found that many universities and colleges have several million yuan of defaulted tuition fees, some have nearly a billion," Cui Bangyan, a senior ministry official said at a press conference in Beijing.

 

Some of the universities and colleges refused to give certificates to student in debt, arousing student's criticism and complaints.

 

Earlier reports showed a university in south China's Hainan Province prevented students in debt from attending their final examinations.

 

The ministry has granted no right to any university or college to withhold graduation or degree certificates of students who owe money for tuition fees, the official affirmed.

 

If a student did not receive his certificates because of debt, he or she should negotiate with the university or complain to higher university authorities, he said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2007)