BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Universities in China have reduced their quotas for independent enrollment of high school graduates, China Daily reported Wednesday.

They also cut back on the preferential treatment of independently enrolled students, such as giving fewer extra points to them in national college entrance examination, or Gaokao, according to the newspaper.

Independent enrollment was added as an admission alternative in 2003 to allow some key universities to enroll students they choose fit.

Tests of academic competence and interviews are usually required, according to the report.

The Ministry of Education is asking universities to adopt stricter rules for independent enrollment, avoid over-reliance on criteria such as research papers, patents and competition results, and make the procedure more transparent and results more open, it said.

Xiong Bingqi, vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, was quoted as saying that universities should conduct comprehensive evaluations and use multiple criteria to admit students.

Currently, 90 universities in China have allocated five percent of their enrollment slots to independent students with special talents. They admit over 20,000 such students every year, the newspaper said.