CRI听力：Beijing Youth: How to Clamp Down on the Casting Couch in University Rankings

Several renowned universities in China have revealed that they were asked by some ratings agencies to offer patronage in exchange for a higher ranking.

An article published in the Beijing Youth Daily criticizes this practice and says the university rating system is losing its credibility.(www.hXen.com)

The writer says due to the lack of qualifications, any institution or agency may work out a set of criteria and publish its results. This has led to disorder in university ratings.

Moreover, the writer notes that many ratings focus too much on criteria such as campus size, the number of students enrolled, and the number of faculty members.

Based on those indexes, the author says, many first-class universities in the United States would not be included on the list.

In addition, some rankings are associated with patronage. The more money a school offers, the higher ranking it can get. The writer says this makes university rankings even less trustworthy.

The writer calls for a standardized school rating system. It suggests education authorities make university information more transparent and available to the public so the ratings agencies can provide better services.