The “Competition White List” is a list of national competitions approved by the MoE for primary and secondary-school students.
Competitions on the list are deemed as “legal”.
And for a country with over 300,000 primary and secondary schools, there really aren't that many!
Why are competitions such a big deal in China?
Winning an award, especially from the white-listed competitions will boost students’ university applications and chances of getting a scholarship.
That said, the MOE has explicitly stated on their website that awards can’t be used for school enrollment or as bonus points for gaokao.
The 3 major categories mentioned on the white list are natural science, humanities & social science, and art & physical education. There are:
• 23 in natural science
• 12 in humanities and social social science
• 9 in arts and sports
The number of competitions in natural science has increased by 52% from the previous White List, and there are 5 new projects in the arts and sports category such as “Fly to Beijing ∙ Fly to Space” National Youth Aerospace Model Education and National Youth Simulated Flight Championship (which kind of sound science-like to us but they involve models and flying so arts and sports it is…).
What do we learn? That science and technology education continues to dominate educational thinking in China (Just as you’d know if you read our monthly news summary and bimonthly policy analysis. Learn more about subscription by emailing melody@ventureeducation.org )
And what about international competitions for students?
Well the government has been cracking down on English classes and other tutoring masquerading as “competitions”.
But otherwise, it’s kind of grey… for now.
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