or some Chinese high school students, passing the gaokao is the final goal of their academic life. They believe that once they enter college, life will be easy. However, getting a college degree now requires more effort than it did before.

对于一些中国高中生而言，高考便是他们学业的终极目标。他们认为，一旦考上大学，生活就会变得轻松了。然而，如今获得本科文凭需要比过去更努力才行。

In September, the Ministry¹ of Education released an announcement, requiring universities to increase the difficulty of undergraduate courses and work harder to end academic misconduct in bachelor’s theses.

今年9月，教育部印发通知，要求各高校合理提升学业挑战度、增加课程难度、拓展课程深度，严肃处理抄袭、伪造、篡改、代写、买卖毕业论文等违纪问题。

This came after a change put forward by Minister of Education Chen Baosheng during a meeting held in Chengdu in June. Chen said that universities should “reasonably increase students’ academic burden” to encourage them to work harder and improve their knowledge and skill levels.

此前，教育部部长陈宝生6月在成都的一次会议上提出要做出改变。陈宝生表示，对大学生要合理“增负”，激发学生的学习动力和专业志趣。

In China, students often study hard during high school to achieve high gaokao scores and get admitted to a good university. However, once entering university, many students lose interest in their studies, let alone acquiring outstanding academic abilities, according to Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences.

在中国，学生们往往在高中阶段刻苦学习，从而在高考中取得好成绩，考上一个好大学。然而，中国教育科学研究院研究员储朝晖却认为，不少学生考上大学后就对学习失去了兴趣，更不要说习得出色的学术能力了。

This phenomenon² could be because the pressure to study at university is lower than that of high school.

这种现象源于大学的学习压力比高中要小得多。

“You get a degree whether you study or not, so why bother studying?” Wang Qi, 26, a graduate student in Beijing, told The New York Times.

“反正学不学都会拿到文凭，那为啥还要认真学习呢？”北京的一名毕业生王琦（音译）在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示。

Indeed, Chinese universities have a relatively³ high graduation rate compared to Western ones.

的确，国内高校的毕业率相对要高于西方高校。

According to a study released by Xiamen University in 2016, among 820 universities in China, both the average graduation rate and the average degree awarding rate reached about 97 percent. However, the average graduation rate of Top 50 US universities only reached about 89 percent.

根据厦门大学2016年发布的一项研究显示，全国820所高校的平均毕业率和学位授予率均达到了97%左右。而美国排在前50名的高校毕业率仅为89%左右。

“The evaluation⁴ standards in universities aren’t very high,” Sang Guoyuan, a professor of education at Beijing Normal University, told The Economic Observer. “Many poorly performing students are given ‘passes’ by teachers as long as they attend classes.”

“高校的评估标准并不高，”北京师范大学教育学教授桑国元在接受《经济观察报》采访时表示。“不少学业表现不佳的学生只要去上了课，老师们就会给‘过’。”

However, in the US, to make sure education quality is kept high, universities always “keep the students under competitive pressure by assigning them challenging tasks,” Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, wrote on the China Daily website.

然而在美国，高校为了确保教育质量，往往会“给学生们布置有挑战性的任务，让他们处于竞争压力之下，”21世纪教育研究院副院长熊丙奇在中国日报网站上撰文写道。

For example, US universities have “weed-out courses”, which are designed to kick out students who don’t meet certain academic criteria⁵.

比如，美国大学设有“淘汰课程”，会将课上没有达到学术标准的学生淘汰掉。

However, while the Ministry of Education’s plans aim to increase “university students’ academic burden”, they’re not intended to put extra pressure on them. Instead, the new requirements are meant to fulfill⁶ the basic requirements of university education, according to Xiong. As Guangming Daily put it, “University is an important time in shaping young people’s personalities⁷ and values.”

然而，尽管教育部计划要“对大学生合理增负”，但并不打算给学生们增加额外的压力。熊丙奇认为，新要求旨在达到高校教育的基本要求。正如《光明日报》所说，“大学是年轻人心理塑造和价值观养成的重要时期。”