Fudan accused of 'cheating' students after promised payments slashed
Print Edition
DOCTORATE students have accused Fudan University of breaking its promises, after they received living expenses and scholarship payments a fraction of what they expected.
According to a guide for graduate students, the school said it would give full-time PhD candidates a 10,000 yuan (US$1,636) scholarship and a 2,000 yuan a month living allowance.
But PhD candidates who began studying in September were shocked to receive living subsidies of as little as 600 yuan per month — 30 percent of the sum in the promise, and scholarship fees as low as 1,800 yuan — 18 percent of the amount expected.
Others reported receiving living subsidies of 1,200 yuan a month.
Some say this will now mean they face great hardship to pursue their academic ambitions at the top university.
Irate students have taken to weibo.com microblog, demanding an explanation.
Fudan officials said that they are still making plans for student living subsidies and scholarships due to new policies.
These will be released soon, the officials added.
The university also said that the students were due to receive more money.
This year, Fudan University recruited about 3,000 postgraduate students including masters and PhD candidates.
One doctorate student who identified herself as Susan, told Shanghai Daily that the reduction was a hard blow for students like her who come from poor rural areas.
“I haven’t told my parents about the cuts yet, as I don’t want them to worry about me,” Susan said.
“I made the decision to study for a PhD because I was told there were enough subsidies for living and tuition and I wouldn’t need to ask my parents for money.
“It was ideal, because I could continue studying and also maybe save some money to support my family,” she said.
Barely pay
But with the cut in support, Susan says she can barely pay her tuition, let alone help her family.
And already burdened with an undergraduate loan, she now faces the prospect of borrowing once more.
“That’s horrible because when I graduate, not only will I have no savings but I’ll have large debts. I can’t imagine that,” she said.
She claims Fudan offered postgraduates jobs as teaching assistants. But then the salary was reduced from 1,500 to 900 yuan.
At one Fudan school, instead of a 10,000 yuan PhD scholarship, 15 percent of students got 6,000 yuan, 25 percent got 4,000 yuan and 35 percent got 1,800 yuan, she said.
Masters students have also seen living subsidies and scholarship funds reduced, according to Susan.
Some students spoke to university officials, including vice president Lu Fang. The school said problems were down to a lack of communication as students weren’t informed of the changes immediately.
Following a circular issued by the ministries of education and finance and the National Development and Reform Commission, from this academic year, central government is no longer paying tuitions for postgraduate students in China.
This has seen universities offer funding to attract top students to continue studying.
“I don’t regret continuing my studies because I like doing research. However, the school should not have cheated us when we were applying for the programs,” Susan said. “If I’d known earlier, I would have looked for a job instead of continuing my studies.”
She said friends studying at other universities had not experienced this problem.
This summer, anti-corruption inspectors from the central government criticized Fudan for mismanaging scientific research funds and for a lack of supervision on campus infrastructure work and school-run companies.
- 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.
