A university student in Sichuan Province worked himself to death studying and doing four part-time jobs, according to local doctors.

　　The weekend death of the 22-year-old student in Chengdu brought a further warning from the Shanghai Education Commission yesterday that university students should spend no more than 20 hours on part-time jobs each week.

　　Shan Liang, a fourth-year foreign language major at Southwest Jiaotong University, took up four part-time tutoring jobs while preparing for his graduation paper.

　　His girlfriend said the elite but needy student had to go to different children's homes every day and spend up to six hours on average teaching both English and French.

　　The young man suddenly fell ill on June 5 and died the next day.

　　Doctors said Shan died of bacterial infection in several organs as a result of extremely low immunity caused by sustained overwork.

　　They said Shan's workload was directly to blame for his low immunity.

　　The case is alarming to university students who are enthusiastic about making money from part-time jobs, local educators said.

　　"We have emphasized many times that students shouldn't take up too much part-time work," said Ling Yuan, vice director at the commission's student affairs division.

　　"That is sure to have a negative influence on their health and study."

　　Part-time job restrictions were first issued in the city in 1997, which serve as guidance to both students and universities that arrange jobs for them.

　　About 80,000 local university students, mostly from needy families, now have one or more part-time jobs, officials said.

　　"High tuition and living costs push us to earn as much as we can," said Shen Yaxin, a Hebei-native student at Fudan University who has two tutoring jobs.

　　Wang Jintong, a Fudan job placement official, said students would apply for different part-time jobs according to their own needs and interests, but center officials would control their working levels.

　　All local universities set aside part of their tuition fees to help needy students.

　　Some local universities also raise pay rates for part-time students who are really needy.

　　"As policies in the city are very preferential to the poor, there is no need for them to struggle that hard for a living," Ling said.

　　"The situation in Shanghai is not as serious as in other cities."