BEIJING, May 23 -- With a growing number of students driving to campus, universities are struggling to find space for them to park, which is raising headaches as some students complain they are being treated unfairly.

    While teachers can drive onto most Shanghai campuses for free, students are either banned from parking on campus or charged.

    Wang Ying, a postgraduate at Shanghai International Studies University, was stopped by a security guard at the school gate when she was driving onto SISU's downtown Hongkou campus for classes last week.

    The security guard told Wang she would have to pay 10 yuan (US$1.20) to park on campus for one day, claiming that school regulations say student drivers should pay to enter.

    "Since we are all members of the university, why do teacher enjoy free parking while students should pay," Wang asked. "It's unfair."

    Wang was also upset that the invoice given to drivers is issued by the nearby SISU gym center, a profitable social sports center affiliated to the university.

    "It is absolutely improper for a non-profit public university to charge students in the name of a profitable institute," Wang said.

    While several local universities have yet to charge students for parking, mainly because so few students currently drive to school, SISU is not alone.

    East China Normal University in downtown Putuo District tells student drivers to park their cars in a supermarket parking lot beside the school gate.

    Drivers have to pay the supermarket 10 to 15 yuan to park for the day, students said.

    Fudan University allows student drivers to park on campus as long as they have acquired a parking pass from the school's security department. Students note, however, that only faculty members are allowed to apply for the passes.

    Liang Linyu, head of SISU's security division, said the school has a limited amount of space for parking, which is why students are told to park elsewhere.

    "The campus is already crowded with the school's logistic vehicles and the cars of faculty members," Liang said. "Since the number of student drivers is relatively small, we decided to make way for the large number of teachers' cars."

    School officials say fewer than five full-time undergraduate or postgraduate students currently drive to school everyday.

    Officials at Tongji and Jiao Tong universities, however, said that students should be entitled to the same benefits as teachers, especially as cars become more popular.

    About 20 students park at each of the two schools every day.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)