By ZHU LIXIN in Hefei, Anhui province

The University of Science and Technology of China enjoys a reputation for being willing to give every promising and innovative proposal a full opportunity to blossom.

To a considerable extent, the Special Class for the Gifted Young, or the junior class, has contributed to that reputation.

Established in 1978 with the support of Deng Xiaoping, the special class offers gifted youths the opportunity to skip a few years of middle and high school.

The initiative was the first of its kind in China and considered a major innovation in China's higher education system.

Enrollment at the elite university gives young students early access to higher education to help them tap their potential to the fullest.

In the 1980s and 1990s, key universities in China saw graduate enrollment rates of less than 10 percent, while more than 70 percent of junior-class students passed graduate enrollment exams of universities at home and abroad.

As of June 2014, 1,300 students had graduated from the class, of whom 150 are now professors or assistant professors at universities in China and overseas.

Among the professors from the junior class, Luo Liqun and Zhuang Xiaowei are probably the best known. They enrolled in the classes of 1981 and 1987, and both became members of the US National Academy of Sciences in 2012.

Dozens of junior-class alumni have become noted entrepreneurs worldwide, with Zhang Yaqin, the global vice-president of Microsoft Corp and the chairman of Microsoft China R&D Group, enjoying the most attention. He enrolled in the Class of 1978 at the age of 12.

Nearly 500 USTC alumni now work on Wall Street, with some of the most prominent having graduated from the junior class.

"Brain drain is not our top concern, as we should by no means interfere with the graduates' own choices," said Jiang Yi, deputy Party chief of the USTC and former dean of the academic affairs office. "What we care about most is how to give the gifted young students the education they deserve.

"The junior class has proved successful in the past 36 years and has accumulated much practical experience for us, which has been influencing our whole university positively."

China Daily 2014-06-23