The three-time Olympic gymnastics champion Yang Wei (left) and two-time Olympic badminton mixed doubles champion Gao Ling (right) [Photo: sdchina.com]

Huazhong University of Science and Technology in central China's Wuhan city plans to expel 307 postgraduate students, including two Olympic champions, who supposedly cannot complete their studies within a set period of time, the "Changjiang Daily" reports.

The university's "Rules for Student Status Management" require master's degree candidates to finish their studies within four years and doctoral students to complete them within six years.

An official from the university's Publicity Department told the newspaper that the university notified the students about the time periods for the completion of their studies, but had not yet expelled any of them. If the students still could not complete their studies after the notification, the college would contact them individually and try to help resolve their problems rather than expelling them immediately, the official said.

Three-time Olympic gymnastics champion Yang Wei and two-time Olympic badminton mixed doubles champion Gao Ling enrolled at the university's Public Administration Department in 2005, but reportedly have not yet finished their studies.

Gao said she knew nothing about the dismissal and would conduct an oral defense of her thesis after she gave birth to her baby so she could graduate.

In a recent online survey of 8,300 netizens, about 70 percent of the respondents said they supported the university's decision and believed the institution should set up a strict elimination system to raise the academic standards of postgraduate students.

"Postgraduate students should clearly state their research topics as early as possible and concentrate on their studies within the limited number of academic years," said Liu Li, a new graduate student in the university's Public Administration Department.