With this year’s July graduation ceremony drawing near, around 60 percent of the students from the South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC) have already been accepted into the world’s top universities.

    Min Siyi is one of the graduates that is about to leave. She said she felt at home at the university and was reluctant to leave. “We lived in the same building with all of the fellow students, teachers and security guards, so it’s like living in a small community. No one is a stranger,” said Min.

    In the university, every 10 students share one teacher on average and each student will have two mentors, one giving academic instruction and the other focusing on life issues.

    Like Min, a student named Wang Zi will also graduate this year. Wang has been admitted to Duke University for a Ph.D. in inorganic materials on a full scholarship.

    Wang studied in the Faculty of Chemistry. Students in the program begin working in laboratories during their second year and are encouraged to publish articles in international academic journals — a practice that gives them a leg up when applying to schools abroad.

    In SUSTC, nearly 30 percent of the freshmen receive a scholarship of 10,000 yuan (US$1,521) each year. With support from the university, each student will be given at least one chance to study overseas during the four-year bachelor studies.

    The university carried out independent enrollment exams in 22 provinces across the country on June 15. A total of 11,774 candidates sat the exam and more than 500 students from Guangdong Province participated in the test at the university in Xili, Nanshan District.

    SUSTC would eventually enroll 1,000 students among all the candidates and 146 places would be allocated to graduates from Guangdong Province, said the university earlier this month.

    (Zhang Qian)