Fudan University has come to an agreement with angry students and their parents after withdrawing support for a series of courses opened by one of its departments.

The university left the students in limbo after withdrawing support for classes being held jointly by its computer and information technology department and the Shanghai Yangpu Fucai Supplementary School (SYFSS).

But it has now appeased those eager to learn after agreeing to set up extra classes for the students or give them their money back.

Fudan agreed to back the courses if student numbers were limited to 200 and if the college only taught computing, information management and administrative management.

However, SYFSS, a private educational institution in Yangpu District, enrolled 731 students and opened a new course, journalism.

They even cheated the students by claiming they would have the same privileges as other students registered at Fudan University.

When it heard about the deception, Fudan immediately cancelled the classes, leading to anger among students and their parents.

But on Sunday, the president's office at the university released a letter to all parents and their children informing them of the compromise.

Fudan's School of Continuing Education will accept all the students and open new courses for them. The new classes will start on September 11.

If they do not want to study at the School of Continuing Education, they can get back their money.

Zhou Ye, a Fudan University spokesman, said most parents and students had accepted the compromise.

"We only hope this incident will not influence their studies. We have tried to protect their rights."

Parent Zhang Shuqin said: "In June a friend of mine told me that the classes were very good because students had all the privileges that belong to registered students at the university.

"I sent my son to the class. The tuition fees for the course were not cheap 6,600 yuan (US$805) for a year."

She added: "If students wanted to live in the dormitories provided by SYFSS, they had to pay 3,000 yuan (US$366) more."

She said most parents and students were happy with the compromise.

(China Daily September 5, 2006)