Local 2014 art exams cool off

While the top art academies in Beijing continue to witness an increasing number of students scrambling for limited seats, the less prestigious schools in smaller cities are seeing a decline of students taking enrollment exams.

More than 40,000 candidates registered for the 2014 art exam in Hunan province, a 5.5 percent decrease year on year. Meanwhile, Hubei saw 8,000 less students taking the art exam this year, its first decline in five years. Other regions are reporting similar numbers.

The biggest fall occurred in fine arts, with nearly 80 percent less students taking the Hunan art exam. Other majors experiencing fewer candidates include TV hosting and directing.

Cui Lingling, an associate professor of art with Beijing-based Minzu University, said those areas seeing fewer candidates are mainly majors that students can prepare for in a short period of time, even just several months. On the other hand, the number of students eyeing dance or music instrument majors are still stable.

The cooling off of art exams has also been affected by late government policies that no longer allow students to enter art schools with scores lower than what normal colleges require in general education subjects such as Chinese Literature, Math and English Literature.

Cui said raising required scores for non-art subjects is a good thing, as it will keep art students from becoming merely "craftsmen."