The Ministry of Education recently published a list of enrolment qualifications for institutions of higher learning after an annual inspection of basic teaching conditions.

Such a checking system, initiated in the early 1990s, has played an important role in urging schools to improve their educational quality.

This year among the 1,607 schools, 26 were marked with limitation on their enrolment scale as they failed to meet all the requirements during the inspection. The number of students they enrol later this year should not exceed that of students graduate to this summer.

The major problem for these schools is their teacher-student ratio, limited quantity of books and reference materials, and poor management.

The situation did not come as a surprise given an unrealistic boom in the country's college education.

In order to meet the needs of the modernization drive for more specialized personnel as well as increasing social demands, China started expanding the enrolment scale in 1999.

According to the ministry, there were 16 million college and university as well as high vocational school students in China at the end of 2002, compared to only 7 million in 1998.

Around 3.82 million students were enrolled last year, which was 616,000 more than the previous year.

As the number of university students grows, however, problems with the quality of education and growing pressure on the job market have become more and more evident.

Busy teachers and crowded classrooms have incurred more complaints. Rampant surcharges on students and illegal activities in campus constructions have also damaged the image of higher learning.

Shortages of teachers, teaching facilities and funds are common in schools, which have undoubtedly led to a decline in quality of education.

College graduates' difficulty in finding jobs also ignites controversy over the expansion of college education.

Despite the arguments, the education authorities have their reasons for carrying out the ambitious scheme of having 27 million students in higher learning by 2010.

Granting more people the opportunity to go to college is certainly a good thing. An increased educational level in the general population will only contribute to the nation's development.

But quality should never be sacrificed for quantity.

During the media conference on Tuesday, Mou Yangchun, an official from the ministry, said that when the checking system was established in 1991, 30 of the 1,075 schools were suspended from enroling students and 114 schools had their enrolment reduced. But since 2002 no schools have been suspended, and only about 30 have had their enrolment reduced.

It would appear schools are making progresses. But as the checking result is mainly based on reports handed in by schools about their own situations, another possibility is that they have just learned to beautify their data.

Thus the education authorities should pay more attention in supervising management of schools and urging them to provide quality services.

The pace and scale of expansion should be carefully monitored, as the mere number of students is meaningless.