Xiamen University will terminate its enrollment on government-funded postgraduate and doctorate students from 2008 and introduce a scholarship and grant-in-aid scheme instead.

Postgraduate and doctorate students currently studying in Xiamen University can apply for a stipend from 2008 onwards, the Beijing News quoted the school authority as saying.

The scholarship for postgraduate students will vary from 4,000 to 51,000 yuan, while for doctorate students, they will range between 6,000 and 90,000 yuan.

The university will also offer a total of 15 million yuan in grant-in-aid starting from next year. All postgraduates and doctorate students can earn some grant-in-aid through helping as an assistant teacher, as a researcher or as a member of the managerial staff.

According to the school authority, they are unsatisfied with the old practice of deciding whose tuition will be paid by the government based only on a postgraduate or doctorate student's entrance exam scores, saying such once-and-for-all practice has been undermining a student's entrepreneuring spirit after enrollment.

Xiamen University is a renowned university in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China's Fujian Province.

According to the Beijing News, many top universities terminated government-funded graduate/post graduate studentships last year.

(CRIENGLISH.com September 3, 2007)