Three Beijing-based universities will launch a program of jointly cultivating high-end professionals for the animation industry, an educational official said Wednesday.

Beijing Normal University, Communication University of China and Beijing Film Academy will select a number of undergraduates showing great potential in animation production every year and set up experimental classes, according to assistant minister of education Lin Huiqing.

Those selected into the experimental classes may take courses provided by the three universities for double degrees or minors, with credits acknowledged by all of them, Lin said.

According to Lin, this program, carried out by ministries of education and culture, aims at improving the training of animation professionals and promoting the development of the country's animation and game industry.

China is a large animation producer. It made 220,500 minutes of animation in 2010, ranking first in the world, according to the Annual Report on the Development of China's Animation Industry published last July.

But the scarcity of professionals has begun to bottleneck the industry's further development.

This program is expected to help strengthen training of high-end cultural professionals that are in short supply and contribute to socialist cultural prosperity, Lin said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2012)