Freshmen arriving at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, in 2013. Zhang Rui / Xinhua

In an attempt to promote equality in education, China's leading universities are reaching out to students from disadvantaged rural backgrounds.

Su Lingwen had no choice but to drop out of high school after just one year. The 17-year-old was expected to get into a key university, but he found it almost impossible to keep pace with his peers from the cities. Su was raised in Sankeshu, a poor township in Suqian city, Jiangsu province, and went to primary school and middle school there.

After graduating from middle school, he transferred to a key high school in Taizhou, a prefecture-level city in the center of the province, which his parents believed would provide him with a better education.

Although he ranked in the top 20 percent in his middle school, Su quickly found himself at the bottom of his new class, scoring just 37 out of a possible 150 points in his first math exam at the school.

"My classmates' English vocabulary was way beyond my level," he said. "Compared with them, I had so much to make up, but I didn't even know where to start."

The family's income comes from his father's small motorcycle repair shop. His parents are not well-educated and have no special plan for their son's schooling. They can offer no guidance.

To overcome disadvantages and boost equality in education, top government leaders are encouraging key universities to pay special attention to students from low-income rural families.

Preferential policies

Just as the United States higher education system began offering preferential policies for African and Hispanic applicants some decades ago, the Chinese education system has also started a mild form of positive discrimination in favor of students from rural areas.

As soon as China's university college entrance exam, the gaokao, ended on June 8, universities began releasing their recruitment plans. This year, many are looking to recruit more students from low-income families and the rural areas.

Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of China's most-prestigious schools, plans to recruit 3,372 students, the same as in 2013, but the number of undergraduates from rural backgrounds will rise to 240 from 60. Another well-respected school, Fudan University in Shanghai, has launched a plan to recruit more than 300 students from rural areas, accounting for about 10 percent of this year's total intake.

Meanwhile, Renmin University of China has started a program called Fulfill Your Dream, which will offer places to 80 students from rural areas, a rise of 50 percent from last year, and Chongqing University will set aside 80 places for students from underdeveloped inland regions in an attempt to boost social mobility.

The preferential policies are in line with Premier Li Keqiang's 2014 Government Report, released in March, which noted that the number of students from poor rural areas enrolled in key colleges and universities rose by 8.5 percent in 2013. It also set a target for this year, which states that the number of disadvantaged students enrolled at the best schools should rise by more than 10 percent.

The Ministry of Education quickly implemented the report's recommendations, and ordered universities to observe quotas whereby no less than 2 percent of students must be recruited from remote, rural areas because although university entry is much easier to achieve than before, it still appears to be harder for students from rural areas to gain admission to the best establishments.

Official figures show that 9.39 million students took the gaokao this year, an increase of 270,000, or 3 percent, from 2013, and nearly 7 million new students will enter higher education when the new semester begins in September. In 1998, the figure was 1.08 million, but after recruitment was widened in 1999, the number has soared.

Town versus country

Zhou Xuhong, president of Chongqing University, said the policy will help the disadvantaged, and that his own college has made great efforts to recruit them, partly by expanding student numbers from the rural areas.

"The municipality has many poor counties and townships, and we have had discussions with the Chongqing Education Commission about ways of giving more opportunities to students from poor families," Zhou said.

About 25 percent of those studying at Chongqing University - which has more than 50,000 students, nearly 20,000 of whom are studying for master's degrees or doctorates - are natives of the municipality, and more than 30 percent of them are from financially disadvantaged families in the outlying areas.

Chen Yulu, president of Renmin University of China, said the recruitment policy signals a genuine breakthrough.

"The basis of educational equality is equal opportunity. The best solution is to provide equal resources, when appropriate, to narrow the gap. However, forcing through root-and-branch changes in basic education in remote and rural areas will be a long-term project. The proportion of students from poor families has fallen in recent years, and our Fulfill Your Dream program is a test of recruitment policy," Chen said. The program, launched in 2012, aims to provide more opportunities for students from poor backgrounds, and explore a comprehensive system of recruitment.

Ding Guanghong, the head of the admissions office at Fudan University, said the school won't turn down a single student because of financial issues, and prospective students can apply for one of more than 50 scholarships through which they can receive as much as 50,000 yuan ($8,000) over four years.

Development worries

Li Zhen, head of the High School attached to Northeast Normal University, a key high school in Jilin province, said she was confident of reaching the target and raising the number of students from poor villages who attend top universities by 10 percent.

According to Li, who is also a deputy of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, it won't be hard to achieve the target "because a few universities, such as Fudan University in Shanghai and Tsinghua University in Beijing, are required to recruit a certain percentage of 'poor students' every year". She supported the policy, but expressed some concerns about the development of village schools, which are often unable to provide adequate food and clothing for students, let alone a good education and higher-quality teaching.

"Universities can provide equal admission opportunities for disadvantaged students, but how they live or study on campus will depend on them alone," she said.

For instance, Peking University plans to admit more students from rural areas by lowering the pass mark to 60 percent below that required for students from better-off backgrounds, but consideration should also be given to how the students will adapt to the pace of study at college.

"If a gap develops between these students and those from the cities, it could cause problems, such as low self-esteem, which would not be good for their development," Li said.

She believes that support policies should be put in place. "It's necessary for colleges to formulate measures to guide poor, rural students, to explain how to integrate on campus and how to get along with students from the cities," she said, adding that careers guidance should also be provided. "If we can't provide follow-up help for those students, they will find it difficult to enjoy university study and life," she said.

Li's school is now cooperating with five others in Jilin province, three of which are in poverty-stricken regions. "Every year, we choose at least five students from the villages to study at our school, sharing our teaching resources and recommending a full quota to colleges," she added.

Wang Li, a senior physics student in Chongqing University, has not spent any of his own money since his freshman year. As a student from a low-income family, the 21-year-old had to work hard to win a scholarship, and still sometimes works part time to make ends meet. However, the years of study and sacrifice have paid off, and he has secured a full scholarship to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to study for a doctorate.

Wang is one of the disadvantaged whose life has been changed by access to the best education the country can offer. However, others haven't been so fortunate. "Most of my classmates from primary school are unable to go to college," he said.

Like Wang's former classmates, high-school dropout Su is in the same position. He now works in an Internet bar in his hometown, and admitted that he's lost the confidence to compete with his urban peers. However, he never stops dreaming about college life and said he hopes the new policy will help disadvantaged youngsters to achieve the goal he has missed.

"I really hope that this new policy will help people to avoid ending up in the same position as me," he said.