Which Chinese university produces the most billionaires? Which university boasts the most outstanding schoolfellow? For years, it has been a tight race between Tsinghua University and Peking University, with the latter always maintaining a slight edge.

However, according to a new list of billionaire alumni from Chinese universities, released Monday by Chinese University Alumnus Association, Tsinghua University has finally gained an upper hand. The school boasted 84 billionaires in 30 years since the reform and opening up with a combined worth of 300 billion yuan (US$47.45 billion), surpassing Peking University for the first time.

Nonetheless, alumni from Peking University maintain a solid lead in terms of prestige. The school topped the list of 2012 Distinguished Alumni, producing 456 distinguished politicians, academic talents and businessmen since 1952. Tsinghua University ranked second with 292.

A total of 8,000 distinguished people participated in the survey, including over 1,400 politicians, over 3,600 scholars and over 2,600 business leaders.

The list also shows off Chinese universities' abilities in creating wealthy individuals. Among more than 800 Chinese billionaires with top educational backgrounds, Tsinghua University's 84 surpassed Peking University's 82. The combined worth of the billionaires on the list is 4.5 trillion yuan (US$711.7 billion).

Zhao Deguo, editor in chief of the alumni association said billionaire rankings by Forbes magazine, Hurun list and New Fortune magazine between 1999 and 2011 listed over 1,580 people with higher education backgrounds, accounting for 61 percent of all listed billionaires.

Zhao said that talent cultivation has gotten on the right track since China re-established the college entrance examination system in 1977. Under the environment of respecting knowledge and talents in 1978, capable individuals have consistently stood out from the rest. According to the new list, many who participated in those exams have become the salt of the earth in scientific fields.

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