Tsinghua University and Peking University both made the decision to offer honors degrees in the new academic year. The schools' honors degrees are expected to become the highest level of academic recognition at the undergraduate level in China.

At Tsinghua University, in order to be eligible for the honors degree, students have to fulfill 148 course credits.

Students who graduate with honors will earn not only the graduate diploma and bachelor certificate, but also an honors degree certificate specially issued by the university. It is estimated that less than 10 percent of students will get the special degree.

Yang Bin, deputy chancellor of Tsinghua University, explained that many undergraduate students have a fairly inflexible course load. The implementation of the honors degree will grant students more flexibility in course selection and research.

Honors degrees has been a staple of British, Australian and Singaporean universities for many years.