BEIJING - China's Ministry of Education ordered the nation's universities with discretionary enrollment quotas to favor rural students, according to a notice the ministry posted on its website Tuesday.

While selecting students to sit their respective entrance examinations, these universities should give greater preference to students from rural areas, as well as students excelling in certain disciplines and students from schools which practice whole-person education.

China kicked off a pilot project in which certain universities are granted discretionary enrollment quotas in 2003.

College students in China are mainly selected through the unified annual college entrance exam which usually lasts for two to three days and contains several written exams.

The notice said the objective of the discretionary enrollment is to devise a diversified evaluation system to select talents and promote well-rounded student development.