(File Photo)

China plans to reduce academic load in middle schools but increase college academic requirements, Education minister Chen Baosheng said on Thursday. 

“Excellent resources and innovative teaching mechanisms should be the priority of undergraduate education, a core stage for the growth of talent, to shift the core competitiveness of students”, Chen said.

A stricter criteria will be imposed on college professors, who will be evaluated on their ethics, teaching qualities and research on teaching reforms, Chen said, noting that bottom-up efforts in education are required.

China’s education system has been blamed for years for extreme stress levels on students in high school and for becoming lax on them on the university level. Gaokao, the Chinese national college entrance exam, seems to be a watershed for two totally different studying attitudes. The move aims for top-down Chinese education reforms, which is expected to reduce the problem.