Students have a say on 1-yuan scholarships

Howard Li, regional co-chair of China of Committee of 100 gives the award to the scholarship recipient Liang Qingxue, student from Shanghai Jiao Tong University on the ceremony. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY in East China's Jiangsu province has been put under the spotlight recently as it made all its scholarships for undergraduates 1 yuan (16 cents). Beijing News says:

The university's 5 million yuan in scholarship money has been reallocated to overseas exchange programs.

But the change is allowed as the regulations only say that scholarships should be awarded "in order to motivate the students to study hard, and keep making progress and comprehensive development".

One head teacher said the change was in line with the times: "Schools are now in transformation and students should study for the sake of study, 'getting bonuses' should not be their study goal."

But no matter the reason for the change, the students should be able to have their say.

Students who benefited from the scholarships before are no longer beneficiaries after the adjustment, but the students are not arguing that there should be no change, only that "one-yuan scholarships" make no sense.

Even though the university is located in a comparatively rich region of the country and possibly have students from well-off backgrounds, the authorities should have discussed with students or their representatives beforehand.