China's Xi calls for party control of universities

China's president Xi Jinping has called for the Communist Party to exert greater ideological control over universities, state media reported yesterday, amid a broad crackdown on academic freedom and dissent in the world's second-largest economy.

Institutes of higher education must "serve the rule of the Chinese Communist Party and serve to strengthen and promote socialism with Chinese characteristics", Xi said at a meeting on ideological and political work that ended Thursday, according to the official Xinhua news service.

The move is the latest effort by China's ruling Communist party to push its dogma in classrooms, raising fears over tightening limits on already curtailed academic and intellectual liberties.

Universities must integrate "ideological work" throughout the entire process of students' education, Xi said, calling for more lessons in Marxist theory.