More than 800 prisoners in Beijing sat China's biannual university degree-level examinations for self-taught students on Saturday (Oct 21).

The Beijing prison administration has set up eight special exam venues in the city's prisons and juvenile detention centers, local media reported on Sunday.

Luo Zhongqi, director of the education office with the 2nd prison in Beijing, said that half of its prisoners, mostly in their early 20s to 50s, are majoring in law, and others are taking psychology, Chinese or Marxism.

Prisoners who obtain degree certificates can apply for awards and a five-month reduction of their prison term, according to the Beijing prison administration.

In 1981, China launched a national examination system for self-taught students. Nearly 9,000 prisoners in Beijing have taken the exams since 1986 when convicts were first allowed to sit them. But only 160 have passed the exams and received certificates, figures from the Beijing prison administration show.

The educational aid policy has been implemented in other places in China, such as Chongqing and Haikou.

Editor: Wing