Home » Feature » News Feature
Phoney universities create real confusion
Print Edition
ARMED with slick-looking websites and recruitment materials, con-artists are tricking high-schoolers into enrolling in unaccredited — and in some cases nonexistent — universities.
A list released earlier this week by education information portal sdaxue.com identified 210 “bogus” schools. Of this number, 83 claimed to be located in Beijing, where many of China’s top universities are concentrated. Shanghai followed with 15 such “fake” schools.
In many cases, the names of these institutions are deceptively similar to well-known universities and colleges, creating confusion among would-be students and their parents.
Though the accreditation of these dubious schools is usually out-of-date or completely fabricated, the fraudsters behind them continue to recruit and collect tuition fees, according to sdaxue.com.
Such scams have led to accusations of lax supervision by education authorities. Similar calls are routinely raised in China, where loose enforcement of industry regulations has been seen as a prime factor behind a host of high-profile scandals.
“Since these are fake universities, why are they still in operation? Where are the supervisors?” wrote one a Sina Weibo users going by the name of “Bingrongxingshi.”
The list comes at a particularly sensitive time as millions of students prepare to sit the make-or-break gaokao, China’s national college entrance examination. High school graduates typically decide which university they will attend after receiving their test results.
Earlier this week, Xinhua reporters investigated one alleged sham university in central China’s Hunan Province.
“Established in 1985, our university helps develop talent in the nonferrous metal sector,” reads the website of Hunan Quyuan University, which claims to be located in Yueyang City.
Pictures on the website show modern buildings surrounded by a beautiful environment. The university alleges to have a campus covering 320,500 square meters.
Upon closer inspection, the university’s online introduction was found to have been plagiarized from North China University of Technology. What’s more, its notification board, newsletters and even its school emblem all appeared to be copied from other colleges.
Reporters could not locate the university. A school called the High School Affiliated with Quyuan University was found, though its staff denied any connection with the university.
An official with Yueyang’s education bureau told reporters that tentative plans were put forward a few years ago to establish an institution called Hunan Quyuan University, but were eventually shelved for “various reasons.”
The apparently non-existent university has published recruitment notices with dates stretching back several years. On its website, it claims to employ around 1,000 staff, with about 85 percent holding master’s degrees.
Non-existent colleges are only part of the problem though. Some colleges on sdaxue.com’s list exist in the sense that they possess classroom space and training personnel, but have been ordered to close by education authorities.
Copycat names
For example, another Hunan college on the list, the Zhuzhou Aviation Tourism College, is in fact run by a private training agency. Though officials stripped it of its education qualifications in 2011, the agency continues to recruit and its website is still accessible.
One common trick used by scammers is to misrepresent fake colleges as well-known genuine institutions, according to Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow with the National Institute of Education Sciences.
“These bogus colleges usually rip off the names of famous universities and do a little alteration, which can be very hard to differentiate,” Chu said.
Chu added that the fake colleges, which have sprouted up mainly in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, tend to recruit students in other cities, making on-site verification difficult.
Students with low scores on the gaokao are easy targets.
“The ‘recruiters,’ usually equipped with enrollment brochures and even admission notices, often tell students and their parents that enrollment time is tight in order to swindle ‘enrollment fees’ from them as soon as possible,” said Chu.
“Once they obtain the money, they either just disappear or set up temporary school facilities before asking students to go home for a variety of reasons,” Chu added. “The victims not only lose money, they miss the opportunity to go to genuine universities.”
Chu suggested that a government crackdown be needed to weed out the sham colleges and stop the spread of their recruiting materials. He said high schools should also properly guide graduates in choosing their universities in order to avoid fraud.
Social media users agreed.
“I truly need some guidance in singling out government-approved colleges,” said a Weibo user by the name of “Shy-stereo.” “The fake ones all sound too genuine to me!”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
