'Good Samaritans' approached by several universities

More than 10 universities in China are willing to enroll the two high school students injured while stopping a knife attack on a bus in east China's Jiangxi Province, local education authorities said.

Liu Yanbing and Yi Zhengyong from Yinchun No 3 Middle School in Yichun city were unable to sit in the national college entrance exam last weekend due to injuries sustained on May 31 while trying to stop a man attacking passengers with a knife on a bus.

Liu suffered serious injuries to his back and head while trying to take the knife from the attacker. Yi was wounded on one of his hands.

Yichun government has given "good Samaritan" awards to both Liu and Yi, and the provincial education bureau decided to organize a separate "gaokao" for the two students after they have recovered from their injuries.

More than 10 universities including the top Tsinghua University said that they would like to enroll the students with preferential policies.

Yu Binhua, the headmaster of Yinchun No 3 Middle School said on Monday that Tsinghua University have contacted them, and said they will enroll the two students if they pass the scores to be admitted by key universities, and the exam of their independent recruitment. The threshold score of the university is usually 100 points above the line they have drawn for the two students.

"We enrolled a few good samaritans back in the times of the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008," said Yu Han,the head of the admission office of Tsinghua University, "We have paid great attention to students with high moral standards."

The Zhuhai branch of Beijing Institute of Technology promised to take the two students and cover all of their tuition fees. Meanwhile, Nanchang University and Macao University of Science and Technology also expressed their willingness to enroll the two students.

The heroic acts of the two students have attracted public attention. Some suggested universities to adopt preferential policies to get admission, and others said they shouldn't be exempted from the exam.

According to Shen Huajin, an official with the provincial Education Examination Authority, the two students still have to take the college entrance exam, and they have to meet the criterion made by the education department to enter university.

"Gaokao" candidates with high moral standards, including those with "good Samaritan" titles, receive an additional 20 points to their final exam score, according to the current policy of some regions in the country, including Beijing. However such policy has not been adopted by Jiangxi Province.