China's education ministry issued a regulation on Friday (Mar 2) to exert further control over the country's privately-run higher education sector.

"All privately-run colleges and universities must focus on public interests instead of private economic gains," said the regulation published by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Tuition fees charged by privately-run colleges and universities should be "mainly used for educational activities and improvement of campus facilities", according to the regulation. It also required an annual audit of the school's financial records.

In the last 20 years, the Chinese government has encouraged privately-run colleges to help accommodate students who have failed the public university entrance exams.

A lot of privately-run colleges charge fees two or three times higher than public ones, as they do not receive financial support the government offers to public schools.

The ministry last month also called on the heads of public universities under the direct administration of the MOE to submit their university budget reports for auditing before they leave their posts to combat university corruption.

The regulation also vowed to severely punish privately-run colleges and universities if they are found to have published fraudulent or misleading advertisements to attract students.

Those who enroll students without the approval of related educational institutions or have published fraudulent advertisements will be fined up to 30,000 yuan (about 3,845 U.S. dollars) and will be suspended from further enrollment.

Several graft cases involving privately-run colleges have been uncovered in China in recent years as they attract students by making bombastic employment promises and handing out fake diplomas.

Editor: Wing