Fake applications scandal prompts soul-searching
Source: Xinhua |
November 24, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DEPORTATION of Chinese students using fraudulent documents in New Zealand has provoked soul-searching at home.
A total of 299 Chinese students had been confirmed to have used falsified papers to obtain their visas, and of them, 219 had begun studying in New Zealand, David Mills, head of Immigration New Zealand, a government agency, told Xinhua.
Many Chinese called it a shame and expressed their disgust at what is widely perceived to be long-standing, murky practices behind the scandal.
"This does not come as a surprise ... given the chaotic market in which reckless agencies collaborated with overly ambitious students," said a blogger nicknamed Hang Yin, on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog.
Hard driven
Over 2.2 million Chinese have pursued study overseas since 1978, Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said in a September press conference.
In 2011 alone, China saw nearly 340,000 citizens leaving the country for education, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education.
While a few students decide to handle their own applications, many more choose an agency to handle the troublesome application procedures.
It has long been known that a majority of Chinese high school students apply to US universities through consulting agencies, and many universities have established ties and maintained cooperation with them (agencies), said Dr Stanley Nel, vice president for international relations at the University of San Francisco, in an October briefing in Beijing.
But as increasingly more Chinese applicants target top destinations such as Ivy League schools, and consultants go all-out for big profits in an over-crowded market, a combination of both factors could provide incentives to dubious practices.
Blurred lines
Almost all Chinese agencies take meticulous care of nearly every detail of the application process, which might have blurred the lines between professional advisory work and cheating.
The portfolio for those "consulting" on overseas study usually includes drafting required writings, which presumably should have been personally done by the applicant or the people who recommended the applicant.
"I got paid up to 2,000 yuan (US$320) for each set of documents," said a writer who worked part-time for an agency and requested anonymity.
Heated competition among agencies has pushed their "craftwork" to a new high, with overstatement of applicants' achievements rampant.
"Some so-called 'soft' information particularly falls victims to resume inflation," said Li Meng, who has just graduated from Canadian University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. "Things like extracurricular activities, part-time work and social activities are hard for an institution half a world away to verify," Li said.
More extreme is outright falsifying of records, but this is less common than inflating extracurricular activities.
"I've encountered agencies that advertised they would manufacture recommendations on behalf of well-known scholars, and then set up false e-mail addresses to circumvent confirmation," said Xu Xiaoyun, a graduate in history from Peking University. Applicants also have to pay a hefty fee - as high as 50,000 yuan - for the service, Xu said.
In the meantime, some industry insiders argued that foreign universities should also bear some blame for their complicity.
Increased scrutiny
"They could not have been unaware of the phenomenon, but many were just pleased to take the badly needed tuition and stay quiet. The New Zealand scandal broke out because local authorities are serious this time," said the Beijing consultant who requested anonymity.
"Over the past couple of years, many US universities have begun taking steps like requiring face-to-face interviews to double-check," according to Wang Lin, who runs ZhiYuanTianXiang, a consultancy based in Beijing.
"Certain agencies have been blacklisted, so applications via them would not be accepted," said Dr Nel with the University of San Francisco, who declined to elaborate.
China's Ministry of Education is soliciting public opinion on its guidelines for consultants and consulting agencies assisting candidates for overseas study.
Education authorities in Shanghai has also taken measures to address the issue, including publishing a list of 15 certified agencies.
Tarnished image
Many Chinese referred to the documents-faking scandal as a shame, saying it tarnished the image of China that has traditionally valued honesty as one of the most important virtues.
Currently there is no such a system of checks and balances that increases the cost of - and hence deters - cheating in China, said Professor Shi Xiaoguang, a researcher in international higher education at Peking University.
Basic record keeping could be of immediate use, said consultant Wang Lin.
"Undergraduates falsifying transcripts is seldom heard of, while high school students are sometimes known to provide untrue grades, because there was a system of record keeping in Chinese universities but not at high schools," Wang said.
A total of 299 Chinese students had been confirmed to have used falsified papers to obtain their visas, and of them, 219 had begun studying in New Zealand, David Mills, head of Immigration New Zealand, a government agency, told Xinhua.
Many Chinese called it a shame and expressed their disgust at what is widely perceived to be long-standing, murky practices behind the scandal.
"This does not come as a surprise ... given the chaotic market in which reckless agencies collaborated with overly ambitious students," said a blogger nicknamed Hang Yin, on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog.
Hard driven
Over 2.2 million Chinese have pursued study overseas since 1978, Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said in a September press conference.
In 2011 alone, China saw nearly 340,000 citizens leaving the country for education, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education.
While a few students decide to handle their own applications, many more choose an agency to handle the troublesome application procedures.
It has long been known that a majority of Chinese high school students apply to US universities through consulting agencies, and many universities have established ties and maintained cooperation with them (agencies), said Dr Stanley Nel, vice president for international relations at the University of San Francisco, in an October briefing in Beijing.
But as increasingly more Chinese applicants target top destinations such as Ivy League schools, and consultants go all-out for big profits in an over-crowded market, a combination of both factors could provide incentives to dubious practices.
Blurred lines
Almost all Chinese agencies take meticulous care of nearly every detail of the application process, which might have blurred the lines between professional advisory work and cheating.
The portfolio for those "consulting" on overseas study usually includes drafting required writings, which presumably should have been personally done by the applicant or the people who recommended the applicant.
"I got paid up to 2,000 yuan (US$320) for each set of documents," said a writer who worked part-time for an agency and requested anonymity.
Heated competition among agencies has pushed their "craftwork" to a new high, with overstatement of applicants' achievements rampant.
"Some so-called 'soft' information particularly falls victims to resume inflation," said Li Meng, who has just graduated from Canadian University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. "Things like extracurricular activities, part-time work and social activities are hard for an institution half a world away to verify," Li said.
More extreme is outright falsifying of records, but this is less common than inflating extracurricular activities.
"I've encountered agencies that advertised they would manufacture recommendations on behalf of well-known scholars, and then set up false e-mail addresses to circumvent confirmation," said Xu Xiaoyun, a graduate in history from Peking University. Applicants also have to pay a hefty fee - as high as 50,000 yuan - for the service, Xu said.
In the meantime, some industry insiders argued that foreign universities should also bear some blame for their complicity.
Increased scrutiny
"They could not have been unaware of the phenomenon, but many were just pleased to take the badly needed tuition and stay quiet. The New Zealand scandal broke out because local authorities are serious this time," said the Beijing consultant who requested anonymity.
"Over the past couple of years, many US universities have begun taking steps like requiring face-to-face interviews to double-check," according to Wang Lin, who runs ZhiYuanTianXiang, a consultancy based in Beijing.
"Certain agencies have been blacklisted, so applications via them would not be accepted," said Dr Nel with the University of San Francisco, who declined to elaborate.
China's Ministry of Education is soliciting public opinion on its guidelines for consultants and consulting agencies assisting candidates for overseas study.
Education authorities in Shanghai has also taken measures to address the issue, including publishing a list of 15 certified agencies.
Tarnished image
Many Chinese referred to the documents-faking scandal as a shame, saying it tarnished the image of China that has traditionally valued honesty as one of the most important virtues.
Currently there is no such a system of checks and balances that increases the cost of - and hence deters - cheating in China, said Professor Shi Xiaoguang, a researcher in international higher education at Peking University.
Basic record keeping could be of immediate use, said consultant Wang Lin.
"Undergraduates falsifying transcripts is seldom heard of, while high school students are sometimes known to provide untrue grades, because there was a system of record keeping in Chinese universities but not at high schools," Wang said.
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