Xi'an Jiaotong University
In 1985, Xi'an Jiaotong University established a special class for gifted youth called Honors Youth Program of Xi'an Jiaotong University (Chinese: 西安交大少年班, also translated as Special Class for the Gifted Young of Xi'an Jiaotong University, a name usually confused with the equivalent in the USTC). The class aims to select talents and explore ways to nurture promising youth without the widely criticized Gaokao and other standardized tests. Every January, XJTU holds tests and interviews for thousands of 9th grade applicants from all over mainland China and admits about 140 students. Youth Class students first study high school courses in High School Affiliated to Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou High School-SIP, or Tianjin Nankai High School. After passing final exams of high school courses, students can directly become undergraduates of XJTU without taking Gaokao. After passing final exams of undergraduate courses, students can directly enter the master's degree programs at XJTU without taking the Postgraduate Admission Test. Alumni of Youth Class include Zhou Hongyi, co-founder of Chinese antivirus software company Qihoo, Xi Chen, a Presidential Scholar and associate professor at Columbia University, and Haitao Zheng, a 2005 TR35 innovator selected by MIT Technology Review.