China's Ministry of Education (MOE) announced Tuesday that it will start selecting presidents for three universities under its direct administration and only Chinese citizens need apply.

The three universities are the University of Science and Technology Beijing, the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and the Nanjing-based China Pharmaceutical University. All of them declined to comment on the selection process for their incoming president.

According to the announcement, the applicants must be Chinese citizens who don't have a permanent residence in another country. Applicants who have permanent residence status of another country will have to give it up if they are hired.

Article 30 in the Education Law, which took effect in 1995, specifies that the presidents of schools and universities must be Chinese citizens living permanently in China.

"The more open selection process will help address the problem that domestic universities are overly influenced by their administrations. The selection process will also help improve higher education," Lao Kaisheng, an education professor with Beijing Normal University told the Global Times.

Nanfang Daily reported earlier that since 1949, the presidents of 76 universities under MOE have been appointed directly by the ministry or by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

"Considering the requirement that applicants have to be already working as an executive at a university as do members of the selection committee, the open selection process is not really that open," Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21 Century Education Research Institute told the Global Times.

Shortlisted candidates will be required to deliver a speech, answer examiners' questions and be interviewed. MOE will also consider the feedback it receives from representatives of faculty and students as it did in 2011.

"Last year the feedback of faculty and students was not published and we don't know how big a role their opinions played in the final decision," Xiong said.

The applicants must be aware of the institutions academics and possess a doctoral degree and professor-level certificate.

The ministry also demands that applicants are currently working as top executives at a domestic university or have worked in an administration positions at an overseas university. They should be no older than 50 years old, but exceptional candidates over 55 will be considered.

MOE initiated the first such selection process last December in its search for presidents for the Changchun-based Northeast Normal University and the Chengdu-based Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. The jobs went to two vice presidents of domestic universities.

The selecting committee last year consisted of 24 members who were MOE officials, Party chiefs and presidents from universities under the ministry and other officers. Twenty of them were from universities.