University evaluations to include physical fitness

In the near future, students' physical fitness will be used to evaluate universities, given equal weight with standards of course development, scientific research and faculty, according to new regulations set forth in the Proposal on Strengthening School Physical Education, jointly drafted by China's National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, and General Administration of Sports.

Wang Dengfeng, a senior official at the Ministry of Education, attended a symposium on physical training at the college level held at Nankai University in Tianjin on September 9. He said that during Peking University's summer military training session, nearly 3,500 students went to the hospital in a two-week period, accounting for more than 6,000 hospital visits.

"[Poor physical fitness among students] is a problem that our education system currently faces," said Wang.

He explained that although recent years have seen rapid development in physical education since the Proposal on Strengthening Young People's Sports & Enhancing their Physical Fitness was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council in 2007, physical education has faced severe challenges, such as the decline of physical fitness among college students, insufficient investment in physical education, inadequate facilities and instructors, and unequal funding in urban and rural areas.

Wang disclosed that the new evaluation system will be issued soon. In the future, the results of students' physical fitness tests will be publicized and the physical health of students will influence overall university evaluations in order to improve the quality of physical education in universities.

Wang added that some changes should be made right away. For example, fundamental conditions of physical education facilities should be considered before applying to build up high-level sports teams.