An official from the Ministry of Education said that universities should work on building a standardized, more diversified system for teaching English to non-majors, and improve the quality of instructors.

Liu Xianghong of the ministry's department of higher education made the comment on Saturday during a national seminar in Beijing on English teaching for university students in other majors.

The two-day seminar, held Saturday and Sunday, was jointly sponsored by the ministry and the Higher Education Press. It focused on the upcoming reform of English teaching at universities, which will be carried out by the end of this year.

Liu also said that English teaching should focus more on class interaction between teachers and students, and make good use of information technology to better attract students' attention.

More than 800 English teachers from universities nationwide attended the seminar.