Jump in postgraduates raises quality concerns.[File photo]

An increasing number of postgraduate students is triggering concerns over the quality of education in Chinese universities.

According to the Ministry of Education, about 517,000 postgraduate students were enrolled in 2012, over 220,000 more than in 2003.

Postgraduate students in some leading Chinese universities have outnumbered undergraduates, according to a report issued by Wuhan University in central China's Hubei Province. At Tsinghua University, one of China's most elite universities, the ratio between the undergraduate and postgraduate students currently stands at 0.61 to 1, said the report, quoted by yesterdays' Wuhan Evening News.

In the country's top 10 universities, including Tsinghua and Peking, students graduating from postgraduate programs last year outnumbered those finishing undergraduate programs, the report said.

The increase in postgraduate students poses challenges to faculty. According to the report, 15.7 percent of university professors are supervising more than 10 postgraduate students each, and 1 percent of them are supervising more than 20 students each.

The appropriate number of postgraduate students for one professor is three and the maximum is six, or the professor will not be able to control the quality of his or her work, said Qiu Junping, director of the Research Center for Chinese Science Evaluation under Wuhan University.

"Chinese universities are hoping to improve their research capabilities, but this does not depend on the number of postgraduates," Qiu said.

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