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With only 600 enrollment places, the school admitted more than 3,000 students. The overenrollment of Guiyang Economic and Technical School has attracted widespread attention.

Recently, many netizens posted videos on social media saying that Guiyang Economic and Technical School enrolled more than 3,000 students even though it knew that the school only had 600 enrollment quotas, and then "sold" the 2,400 extra students who were illegally enrolled to other technical secondary schools.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the school's enrollment plan issued by the education department in 2024 was only 600, but the school secretly increased the number of places several times. Because the students who were over-enrolled could not register, the school then tried to transfer the extra students to other schools, which caused dissatisfaction and complaints from students and parents.

On July 28, the Guiyang Municipal Education Bureau issued a notice that after preliminary investigation, it was found that during the enrollment process of the Guiyang Economic and Technical School, illegal enrollment had been conducted through a third party, exceeding the permitted scope and enrollment plan. A case has been filed to investigate the school's violations.

On May 17, 2024, Guiyang Economic and Technical School held a launching ceremony for the Vocational Education Week. Photo/Official website of Guiyang Economic and Technical School

Image source: Guiyang Education Bureau official WeChat

The notice mentioned that any behavior that infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of students and parents will be corrected with a "zero tolerance" attitude, and the relevant responsible persons will be held accountable in accordance with the law, and those responsible for the violations will never be allowed to profit.

China Newsweek called the Guiyang Economic and Technical School's public telephones several times, but no one answered. A staff member of the Guiyang Education Bureau told China Newsweek that a working group has entered the school and is still investigating and handling the matter. If there are specific results, an announcement will be made.

Ma Liang, a professor at the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China, told China Newsweek that the school took the risk and illegally recruited students beyond the plan in order to maximize profits.

Many lawyers interviewed said that if the school’s illegal enrollment behavior is verified to be true, it will face administrative and civil liability. If it constitutes a crime such as fraud, the relevant responsible persons may also face criminal prosecution.

Suspected of false enrollment and false promises

It is understood that Guiyang Economic and Technical School is a private secondary vocational school with a registered capital of 50,000 yuan. Its business scope is "secondary vocational education, non-academic training". The legal person and principal of the school are both Gui Shengming. According to the school's official website, the school offers majors such as preschool education, automobile operation and maintenance, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and e-commerce, with more than 3,000 students.

This means that if the above-mentioned over-enrollment of the school is verified to be true, then the number of new students enrolled this year is already equal to the number of students currently enrolled. Such a large-scale over-enrollment would require classrooms, teachers, student dormitories, etc., which are obviously far beyond the school's ability to bear.

The "2024 Enrollment Guide" published on the school's WeChat official account shows that the school's enrollment majors include child care, automobile operation and maintenance, biopharmaceutical technology, urban rail transit operation services, e-commerce, and elderly services and management, with tuition fees of 5,980 yuan per year. However, unlike the enrollment guides published in previous years, this year the school did not announce the planned enrollment number for each major.

"On the last day of military training, the school said that it would transfer these 2,400 or so people to other schools," a parent of a student said on social media. He also mentioned, "When the school was recruiting students, they said there were air conditioners, beds with desks underneath, etc., but it was all lies."

Another netizen provided a "Professional Diversion Informed Consent Form" with the official seal of "Guiyang Economic and Technical School". It shows that students who originally enrolled in Guiyang Economic and Technical School's majors such as elderly service and management, e-commerce, and urban rail transit operation services will be diverted on the principle of matching majors, unchanged fees, and teachers following them. The diversion time is July 27. In addition, the e-commerce major will be diverted to Guizhou City Technical School.

A teacher surnamed Li from Guiyang who works in admissions told China Newsweek, "We recruited too many students and wanted to transfer them to other schools, but the students disagreed." She said, "I have been doing (admissions work) for so many years, and no school has ever had such a problem."

It is worth mentioning that on July 21, Guiyang Economic and Technical School issued a statement saying that there have been rumors recently that "Guiyang Economic and Technical School does not have the qualifications to run a school" and "Guiyang Economic and Technical School students have no student status". Guiyang Economic and Technical School has legal qualifications to run a school, and all students who are normally enrolled in the school have legal student status. The statement also stated that the rumormongers will be held accountable according to law.

Image source: Guiyang Economic and Technical School official website

But in the end, the Guiyang Municipal Education Bureau reported that after preliminary investigation, the school had violated regulations by recruiting students beyond the scope of permission and plan through a third party during the enrollment process, and was suspected of false enrollment and false promises. In other words, the school not only violated regulations by recruiting students beyond the scope of permission and plan, but also was suspected of other problems such as false enrollment and false promises.

Ma Liang believes that the school's actions violate relevant regulations and are suspected of false advertising and malicious fraud, which will have serious consequences for students and parents. "Many students and parents went to this school, but now have to transfer to other schools, or even face the risk of having no school to attend," he said.

"I got my refund, but I can't find a school to go to. What should I do with my child?" a parent of a student said on social media. Another parent said: "You have caused us so much trouble. All the better schools are full. Now my child is angry and says he doesn't want to go to school. What should I do?"

Ma Liang told China Newsweek that these students who were illegally recruited need to be relieved by the local education department to protect their right to education. The education department can provide students with the right to choose similar schools so that they can receive the same level of education. At the same time, the school should be severely punished to avoid similar enrollment chaos.

He also mentioned that many schools may have over-enrollment plans, and that the education department must strengthen the binding force of the enrollment plan, monitor and warn in advance, and not wait until over-enrollment plans occur before investigating and resolving the issue. The consequences and impacts of this will be too serious, and some schools will try to enroll students beyond the plan in the hope of getting away with it.

Lawyer: May face criminal prosecution

Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, told China Newsweek that the school's over-enrollment may be driven by economic interests and the purpose of expanding its scale and influence.

A local netizen said on social media that he took his child to see this school. "The advertisement said it was 5,980 yuan a year, but when I got there it was 13,800 yuan a semester. The contract class was 25,800 yuan a semester. At that time, two teachers chased me to register and pay the fees."

The "Announcement on the Proposed Adjustment of Private Education Fee Standards" released on the school's official website in March 2023 shows that the school's fee standards are proposed to be adjusted to: tuition fee of 17,800 yuan/student/year (including a national tuition reduction of 2,000 yuan/student/year); accommodation fees are divided into ordinary dormitories and student apartments, of which ordinary dormitories are 500 yuan/student/year, and student apartments with less than 6 people (including 6 people) are 2,000 yuan/student/year.

In addition, China Newsweek learned that some private technical secondary schools have dedicated admissions teachers responsible for admissions, while some schools also conduct paid admissions through third-party admissions agencies, and give commissions based on the number of students admitted. The more students admitted, the higher the commission.

The aforementioned interviewee, Ms. Li, told China Newsweek that the enrollment agency she works for enrolls students for many local schools. As for how much commission Guiyang Economic and Technical School gets for enrolling a student, she said she is "not quite sure."

Many lawyers interviewed mentioned that according to Article 76 of the Education Law, if a school or other educational institution recruits students in violation of relevant national regulations, the education administrative department or other relevant administrative department shall order the school or other educational institution to return the recruited students and refund the fees collected; the school or other educational institution shall be given a warning and may be fined up to five times the illegal income; if the circumstances are serious, the relevant enrollment qualifications shall be ordered to be suspended for a period of not less than one year but not more than three years, until the enrollment qualifications are revoked and the school operating license is revoked; the directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible persons shall be punished according to law; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued according to law.

Fu Jian believes that if the school's illegal enrollment behavior is verified, it will first face administrative and civil liability. If the school's illegal behavior constitutes a crime such as fraud, the relevant responsible persons may also face criminal prosecution. Fu Jian also said that if the school's illegal behavior caused students to be unable to register for school, students and parents have the right to demand civil compensation from the school.

Xu Hao, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, told China Newsweek that the school's enrollment plan is reported to the relevant education authorities for approval in advance, and the scope of enrollment, majors, and number of students are all subject to strict approval. Deliberately concealing relevant circumstances and enrolling students beyond the permitted scope or beyond the plan will constitute a violation of the law and the student will need to bear corresponding legal responsibility.

He mentioned that according to the relevant provisions of the Education Law, if the school recruits students beyond the scope of the license or beyond the plan, the tuition fees collected must be refunded first, and the school must be punished accordingly. "Depending on the severity of the case, if the case is minor, a warning and a fine will be given; if the case is serious, the school may be disqualified from recruiting students or even have its school license revoked. If it constitutes a crime, such as suspected fraud, criminal liability will be pursued."

Author: Sun Xiaobo