(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-14 07:11

Five people in charge of university admissions in Hunan province are allegedly involved in a corruption case, only weeks ahead of the national college entrance examination, the Oriental Outlook weekly said Tuesday.

Ma Lihuang, a section chief who oversees student recruitment and employment at Xiangnan University, was recently "taken away" by members of the procuratorate in Changsha, a likely sign of an impending prosecution.

He is accused of having abused his power in selling university places for personal gain, the weekly, which is affiliated to the Xinhua News Agency, said.

Zhou Xianghui, a section chief of Hengyang Normal University and three section chiefs of three other universities in the same province are also accused of the same offense.

The three and their universities were not named.

Ma has been described as a "star worker" for his "outstanding contributions" to the university, Wang Xiaocheng, deputy head of the Xiangnan University, was quoted as saying.

"He (Ma) has the admission power and therefore holds the purse strings. He wields much power," Wang said.

Ma is alleged to have sold places to unqualified students, those who know they will score lower than other students in the entrance examination.

A student who declined to be named, was quoted as saying that after two consecutive failed attempts to qualify for a university place, he managed to gain a place at Xiangnan University after his family gave Ma an unspecified sum of money.

The Oriental Outlook report said the exposure of Ma and Zhou might be just the "tip of the iceberg". It mentioned another alleged corruption case involving more than 20 people connected with education in the province.

Guo Jianguo, an official with the Hunan provincial education department, said policy loop-holes must be addressed to weed out the corrupt.

"The practice to allow universities to enroll students with comparatively lower qualifications must be stopped," Guo said.

The college entrance examination will be held from June 6-8. In Hunan, about 600,000 students will sit for it, a record high.

Last year, 520,000 students took the examination. The enrollment rate is forecast to be about 60 percent.