Using attractive designs, handwritten calligraphy and augmented reality (AR) technology, Chinese universities are innovating acceptance letters to deliver their unique characters to freshmen.

Earlier this month, the Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) in Xi’an, northwest China, issued letters of acceptance to students using AR technology. It was the first AR-enabled university admission notice in China.

The admission letter using using AR technology

NPU embedded a virtual campus platform based on AR technology, thereby enabling students to view the university’s history and discipline characteristics in a different manner.

On July 12, Tsinghua University sent out its first set of admission letters with the book, The Story of Art, which the school recommends the recipients to read this summer. Last year, the school recommended Walden Lake and The Ordinary World.

The parcel sent by Nankai University includes an admission letter and a letter written by the school president encouraging incoming freshmen to learn from their predecessors.

The admission letter by Fudan University this year is accompanied by new-student guidance and a CD that includes the university’s songs.

An admission letter from the Nankai University

Today, university admission letters have become better-looking and contain more information. Besides confirming admission, China’s universities deliver their unique education theory, humanistic spirit and value pursuits.

In fact, admission letters strongly reflect the changing times, especially after the resumption of the college entrance examination or Gaokao in 1977.

53-year-old Dong (not his real name) took Gaokao in 1983 and was admitted by a teachers’ college. As telephones were not available at the time, Dong had to come to his high school again and again to check if he was admitted.

At the time, admission letters were handwritten and very simple. A middle school teacher in eastern China’s Jiangxi province recalls that in the 1990s, some letters were still handwritten. The letters were first sent to the high school before students were informed to go and collect them. 

The first admission letter sent out in Sichuan province in 2017.