China has decided to impose harsher punishment on school principals who violate rules governing college and university enrollment, the Ministry of Education announced on Thursday.

School principals will be temporarily relieved of their post and subject to investigations of relevant discipline commissions if they recruit more students than were approved or are engaged in misleading publicity, the notice said.

The ministry will also check the qualifications of students before they are enrolled. The admission of students who fake their identification and place of residence will be revoked.

Chinese universities rejected around 30,000 college candidates for violations of enrolment regulations last year, according to the ministry.

The ministry introduced in 2005 a nationwide "Sunshine Program" to root out corruption and ensure transparency in the enrollment process.

Statistics from the ministry show, 9.52 million students applied to enter college this year, of which only 2.6 million will be admitted - just one place for every four candidates.

The fierce competition obliges the educational watchdog to take strict measures to ensure fairness of college enrollment.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2006)