Cases of cheating in national educational tests, including the College Entrance Examination and postgraduate recruitment exams, would be entered on the record, Lin Huiqing, a senior official with the ministry.

Lin said the record, expected to be available online at the official website of the ministry's testing center, would be open to higher educational institutions and employers for reference.

Education chiefs have taken a set of measures to clean up the exam environment, including requiring test-takers to sign written pledges and increasing security checks at exam venues.

But still cheating is on the rise. In last year's national college exam, about 3,000 students were caught cheating. In 2005, the number was 1,300.

Lin said provincial educational authorities had also been required to keep the cheating record of provincial educational exams and report their records to the ministry's testing center.

The National College Entrance Examination is seen as one of the most important examinations in China, because it is the only chance for most high school students to get access to higher education.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education show a record 10.1 million people had applied to take the exam next month, but only 5.67 million will be able to enter college.