A college in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, is offering a course that asks female students to sign a commitment to avoid premarital intercourse, triggering objections not only from students but also from Net users, media reported.

"I promise to myself, my family, my friends and my future spouse and children that I will refuse all kinds of premarital intercourse before I step into a life-long monogamous marriage. And I will avoid infidelity after marriage," read the picture of a commitment card posted on social media on Friday.

According to China Business View, the college offered a course named "Youth of no regrets," asking female students to sign the commitment card.

A student in the college was quoted by the newspaper as saying that she was "extremely unhappy" about the commitment card and thought the college has gone too far by "trampling on students' dignity."

Some students said what the college has done was understandable but also out of date, according to the report.

The news has triggered heated discussion on social media. More than 11 million people viewed the news via the Sina microblog and more than 25,000 commented as of press time.

"It is personal freedom to have premarital intercourse. Why doesn't the college ask male students to sign the commitment card? What the college should do is to teach students, especially female students, to protect themselves in a proper way, not in this humiliating way," a Net user commented.

"We need to do more to treat both genders equally," another Net user commented.

A teacher from the college was quoted as saying that the college did this out of good intentions and did not expected to trigger discussions among students and on social media.