Postgrad exam controversy at Peking Union

Peking Union Medical College denied any misconduct during its postgraduate enrollment exams after netizens questioned its decision to enroll a student with a lower written exam score than the other candidate.

In China, students wishing to enroll in postgraduate studies are first required to take a written test with a maximum score of 500 in late December, before taking an oral exam in March.

The university published the results of its oncology major on Wednesday, in which one student was enrolled this year. One student, who had a score of 331 on the written exam and final score of 78.53 was awarded a place, while the other, who scored 390 points on the written exam but a final score of 77.96, was not.

Netizens began to question whether there was misconduct during the oral exam, as well ask about the family background of the student who was enrolled. The incident became a trending topic on social media platforms on Thursday.

Peking Union immediately launched an investigation into the incident and closely reviewed the test papers of both students and recordings of their oral exams, it said in a statement on Thursday night.

The university said that according to its enrollment requirements for postgraduate studies, the written exam carries the same weight as the oral exam, and the student who was admitted performed better in the latter. It also explained how the final scores were calculated.

During the oral exam, test organizers comprehensively tested the academic abilities of both students, in terms of their English proficiency, logic, oral expression and research ability. They each scored students independently and their average was taken as the oral exam score, the university said, adding that the final score was valid.

Jining Medical University in Shandong province, the alma mater of the student enrolled by Peking Union Medical College, also dismissed rumors that the student was the son of its provost.

It said in a statement on Thursday night that although both provost and student have the same family name -- Chen -- they are not related.

The provost has a daughter who is married, and the students' parents are farmers in Shandong's Qingzhou city, it said.