Most people support Tsinghua University's decision not to accept students who benefited from Sichuan province's score-boosting policy, a Web survey suggests.

The prestigious university said last week it will not recognize the extra 20 points awarded to Sichuan students certified as "class-two athletes", stating a large number of certificates had been faked.

Although the university has refused to accept the certificates since 2008, the move this year resulted in criticism online, including accusations of discrimination.

According to an online poll by Gaokao Express, a channel set up by Internet company Sina to focus on the national college entrance exam, more than 85 percent of respondents support the decision.

As of Sunday night, 5,000 people had voted.

"Such point-adding should be banned," wrote one netizen. "Otherwise it's unfair for students who can't get a faked certificate."

China's General Administration of Sport classifies athletes in four levels based on performance - from international, the highest level, to national, class one and then class two.

"In recent years, we had never found a class-two athlete from Sichuan who could pass the test after entering the university," Yu Han, director of Tsinghua University's admissions office, told Beijing News. "We don't target all examinees from Sichuan, just students suspected of fraud."

The admissions office wrote on its micro blog: "Tsinghua strongly resists the sports points-adding policy in Sichuan, in order to let more genuinely excellent candidates into Tsinghua. The university has autonomous authority with enrollment, according to the Ministry of Education."

The office said it will "cut away any unreasonable extra points, especially so-called class-two athletes given an extra 20 points", and estimated that 90 percent of the certificates for class-two athletes from Sichuan are fake.

Tsinghua has a good sporting tradition, the office wrote, adding that it hopes students who get extra marks do not deceive the university.

Last year, none of the 149 Sichuan students enrolled at Tsinghua University received bonus points through the policy.

(China Daily USA 07/01/2013 page5)