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Eight prestigious universities across China are to enroll a total of 120 postgraduates from government departments in Tibet per year for the next five years in an effort to improve the professional skills of Tibetan officials.

The applicants must be university graduates who have worked in a government department or institution for at least three years. They must agree to return to Tibet after graduation.

They will be enrolled after sitting a specially-prepared entrance examination organized by the eight universities. When admitted as postgraduates, they will study in one university for two or three years at the government's expense.

The eight universities are the People's University of China, Beijing Normal University, the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Tianjin University, Sichuan University, Jilin University, Southwest China University of Finance and Economics and Northwest China University of Agricultural and Forestry Science.

Since the first Tibetan class was set up in an inland school in 1985, more than 20,000 Tibetan students have graduated from such classes offered by more than 20 provinces and cities over the past 17 years. Some 10,000 are university graduates. To date 33,000 Tibetans, or 1.3 percent of Tibet's total population, are studying at institutes of higher learning. The proportion of educated people in Tibet is higher than the national average, according to an official from the Tibet regional educational department.