A professor and dean who sparked controversy after he won a place at a leading US academy but failed to make it into China’s leading institute has been named as a candidate for this year’s membership election of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Shi Yigong, professor and dean of the School of Life Sciences at Tsinghua University, who was elected a foreign associate to a leading US academy - which sparked a heated online debate after he failed to make it into the CAS– has been named as a candidate for this year’s membership of the esteemed Chinese establishment, CAS announced on its website on Monday.

The renowned professor of biochemistry and molecular biology failed to be enrolled by the CAS, one of the country's major think tanks, in 2011.

On April 30, 2013, he was elected one of the 21 foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences based in the United States. This sparked controversy in China on the criteria for CAS membership election.

Most of the 391 new candidates for this year’s CAS membership come from China’s top universities and research institutes.

Li Guoying, vice minister of water resources, is the only candidate as a government official.

The average age of the candidates is 53.7, with the eldest at 76 and the youngest 37.

CAS elects at most 60 new members every two years.