Universities may relocate to combat issue of overcrowding

Moving some colleges out of central Beijing, either to the suburbs or other cities, is necessary to ease overcrowding, according to political advisers, but any new locations will first need to meet the demands of employees.

The capital's wealth of high-quality education resources has long attracted large numbers of people from across China, contributing to chronic congestion and putting a strain on public services.

To alleviate the problem, the city government last year released its five-year plan for education development, which aims in part to keep higher-education institutes "small" - geographically and in terms of enrollment - as well as relocate some university facilities for undergraduates from central areas.