“Drawing on your political knowledge, explain why the Communist Party should exercise leadership over the country’s economy, armed forces, schools and all aspects of society.” So reads an essay question in this year’s gaokao, China’s university entrance exam which was held in early June. The exam is notoriously tough, but political flattery can help. Examinees in Beijing were helpfully asked to discuss an environmental slogan used by President Xi Jinping. The paper noted that more marks would be given for being “positive”.

Despite the Chinese political flavour of some of the questions, a growing number of Western universities are using gaokao results to select students from China instead of requiring them to write internationally recognised exams such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). In June the University of New Hampshire became the first public state-level university in America to accept gaokao scores. It joins a handful of privately funded American colleges such as New York University and the University of San Francisco. 

In Canada, around 30 universities allow gaokao results to be used instead of the SAT or similar tests. They include Toronto and McGill universities. In Australia, the University of Sydney took the lead in 2012. Now more than half of Australian colleges welcome the gaokao, including seven members of the prestigious Group of Eight. So does Cambridge University in Britain. Other European universities, including in France, Spain and Italy, are following suit.

Western universities that accept gaokao results don’t publicly complain about the political constraints imposed on takers of the exam (it is safe to assume that no marks would have been earned for suggesting the party should not be in charge). But they are aware of its other limitations. They require additional evidence of English-language competency — students who do well in the gaokao’s compulsory English section are often bereft of oral skills. They also know that the gaokao involves a lot of rote learning, and that those who write it have little time to develop critical-thinking skills. An admissions officer at New York University says the gaokao can still be helpful for evaluating applicants because it assesses “a different readiness,” including self-discipline. Students who get in through the gaokao do “very well academically,” she adds.

Others are more sceptical. The University of Melbourne is the only one of Australia’s Group of Eight not to accept gaokao results. Carolyn Evans, deputy vice chancellor, says the university has “looked at it a number of times” and decided that “other criteria better predicted success in university study”.

That stance may become hard to maintain. Around one-third of international students in Australia and America are from China. Many Western universities are becoming increasingly dependent on revenue from this source. If some top-class universities offer entry using gaokao scores, their competitors may find it hard to resist doing the same.