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After studying for a master's degree for a year and a half, Zhang Hong, a 28-year-old woman from Henan, graduated from a private university in Mongolia on June 7 this year. She passed the thesis defense and obtained a degree certificate. After returning to China, she applied for degree certification at the Overseas Study Service Center of the Ministry of Education of my country, but received a "notification of temporary non-certification".

Zhang Hong said that this year, 60 to 70 Chinese students who graduated from the same school with a master's degree as her have not yet obtained relevant certification. "Some were rejected after submitting their applications, and some are still waiting and have not applied." During the interview, the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter also came into contact with some Chinese students studying in other institutions in Mongolia, and some of them encountered the same problem in the degree certification process.

For these international students, the "Foreign Academic Degree Certification" issued by the Overseas Study Service Center of the Ministry of Education of my country is indispensable - it is an important certificate to prove the authenticity and validity of the degree awarded by their graduating school. In other words, uncertified foreign diplomas are almost not recognized when they go to school or find employment in China.

On July 24, the Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Certification and Review of Academic Degrees and Qualifications of Some Foreign Institutions (V)". The "List of Strengthened Certification and Review" given in the notice includes 13 institutions in the Philippines, India and Mongolia, and the school where Zhang Hong graduated is among them.

The announcement revealed that recently, the "master's and doctoral degree certification data of the above-mentioned institutions have shown significant anomalies, and related reports have been frequent." This move is "to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of overseas students and maintain the normal order of the overseas study market." At the end of the announcement, the Ministry of Education's Overseas Study Service Center reminded the majority of overseas students to "pay close attention to the series of announcements on strengthening review and carefully choose the institutions (projects) involved in the announcement."

A reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network found that since 2021, the Ministry of Education’s Overseas Study Service Center has successively issued several "Announcements on Strengthening Certification Review", involving many institutions in many countries including the Philippines, Mongolia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, France, Singapore, and Spain.

On the one hand, the Ministry of Education's Overseas Study Service Center has repeatedly reminded and updated the "Strengthening Certification Review List", but on the other hand, some people are still eager to try without knowing the truth. For some time, some overseas study agencies have packaged some overseas institutions with "easy admission and graduation", "short study time" and "low price" as "the most cost-effective options" to attract some people who "want to get a degree quickly".

Some intermediaries marked "high cost performance"

The "Guidelines for Inquiry into Certified Institutions" on the official website of the Overseas Study Service Center of the Ministry of Education of my country clearly states that the center has sorted out the information on the study and certification of Chinese students in the past five years, and extracted the corresponding foreign institutions that have passed the certification application cases for reference by students studying abroad. The institutions that can be found are what is usually called the "white list". In addition to the "white list", "high cost performance" is the choice of some students studying abroad.

It takes about two hours by plane from Beijing to reach Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, which makes studying in Mongolia very convenient.

The official website of the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia shows that Mongolia has 16 national universities and 92 private institutions. According to a survey conducted by China Youth Daily and China Youth Network, there are 34 Mongolian institutions included in the "white list" of the my country Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center.

On social media platforms, the keyword that often appears with "study abroad in Mongolia" is "high cost performance". For example, some people say that in terms of admission requirements, you do not need to submit English test scores when applying to study in Mongolian institutions; others say that the short duration of study, which takes one year for associate to undergraduate, one and a half years for master's degree, and three years for doctoral degree, meets the needs of many people who "want to get a degree quickly". In terms of cost, the total expenditure is not high.

With the help of an intermediary, Wang Ming, a 30-year-old from Shandong, went to study in Mongolia in April this year. He recalled that there were three clear requirements for the application process: "no false documents, no criminal record, and a physical examination." Other than that, he only needed to prepare the relevant materials as required by the intermediary, and "the invitation letter came in three days."

As for graduation, Zhang Hong feels that it is not as easy as the public imagines, and it is very difficult to communicate with the tutor in English.

During the interview, China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporters found that some study abroad agencies that charge up to 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, in addition to basic services such as "enrollment application" and "life assistance", also indicate that they provide related services such as "graduation thesis guidance" and "graduation defense guidance". Some intermediary personnel even promised, "100% application and 100% graduation" and "In a word, we are responsible for your graduation and certification report."

Taking Wang Ming's master's degree as an example, the tuition fee is 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, the agency service fee ranges from 10,000 to 30,000 yuan, plus various living expenses, "the total expenditure can basically be controlled within 100,000 yuan."

During the reporter's consultation, several different intermediary personnel mentioned the same thing: compared with the cost of studying in Europe and the United States, which can easily reach hundreds of thousands of yuan, the cost of studying in Mongolia is more affordable. Even compared with the cost of studying in Southeast Asian countries, the amount of "less than 100,000 yuan" still has a significant advantage.

It is understood that the "high cost-effectiveness" marked by study abroad agencies is more reflected in private universities in Mongolia. According to the interviewees, more than one agent has mentioned that, in comparison, the admission and graduation requirements of Mongolian national universities are more stringent.

Unlike private universities, Mongolian national universities mainly teach in Mongolian. International students have to attend classes with local students, and almost all daily homework, exams, graduation theses and defenses are in Mongolian. A Chinese international student who graduated from a national university in Mongolia this year told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that although he has a certain foundation in Mongolian, he is under a lot of pressure. "I need to read a lot of Mongolian books. Without a language foundation, translation becomes a problem."

Precisely because national universities have higher requirements, some private universities in Mongolia have become the focus of "value for money" marking by study abroad agencies.

Li Nan is a teacher at a private second-tier college in Guangdong. According to the latest school requirements, lecturers in teaching positions should at least have a master's degree. For this reason, in April this year, seven or eight administrative teachers in her college "formed a group" to go to Mongolia to study for a master's degree, and planned to transfer from administrative positions to teaching positions in the future. She introduced that before this, a group of teachers who studied for a doctorate in Mongolia had returned to China with their degrees and were successfully evaluated for relevant professional titles. A school leader in her school also has a Mongolian doctorate as his highest degree.

Li Nan told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that during their study abroad, these teachers often need to take several months off each semester, and their employers generally "acquiesce" and support their employees' choice to improve their academic qualifications. "After all, it will help the school complete the evaluation, as long as they promise to come back after completing their studies."

Wang Ming, a native of Shandong, belongs to another category of Chinese students studying in Mongolia. He worked for seven or eight years, resigned and went to Mongolia to study, and plans to prepare for the civil service exam after graduation with his master's degree. "I am obsessed with this. With my current (bachelor's degree) degree, it will be more difficult to pass the civil service exam."

The private university in Mongolia where Wang Ming is studying has a semester of three months, with classes scheduled for about three days a week, and the first class of each day starting at 10 a.m.

Wang Ming said that in his class of Chinese international students, "there are few young people, and many of them have jobs or tasks in China, and need to deal with various things after class", so everyone does not have much time to communicate. His deskmate is an art major and runs an education and training company in China. "I hope to get a master's degree to improve the level of my company."

The same is true for Zhang Hong's class. "Everyone's needs are basically similar" - quickly improve their academic qualifications to meet the minimum academic requirements for job title evaluation or the unit they apply for. Many people "came there after they had worked, and some were in their 40s. There were almost no domestic fresh graduates."

Both Zhang Hong and Wang Ming mentioned that in addition to local Mongolians, there are many East Asian faces on campus, with the majority being Chinese, and a small number of Koreans and Japanese.

There are currently no official statistics on the specific number of Chinese students in Mongolia. Earlier, in a related report, the Mongolian National News Agency disclosed a set of data: as of June 9, 2020, there were 19,159 people from 118 countries living in Mongolia for a long time, including 2,825 students. There are about 7,500 Chinese citizens in Mongolia, including 2,207 students.

The list of "enhanced certification review" is dynamic

Can all the relevant degrees awarded by Mongolian institutions on the "white list" be successfully certified by the my country Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center? Some intermediary personnel replied, "As long as you follow the school's curriculum and enter and leave the country normally to study, there will definitely be no problem."

The reality is not that simple.

After getting her degree certificate from school, Zhang Hong sought help from a person who claimed to be an "assistant certification officer" through a promotional advertisement on a social platform because she needed to obtain a degree certificate urgently. She paid a 100 yuan deposit and agreed to pay the balance if the certification was passed, but it didn't work out. Later, she realized that the "assistant certification officer" was actually a "scam" and "couldn't help with anything other than submitting the materials."

The private university in Mongolia where Zhang Hong graduated is on the "white list" given by the my country Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center, and has also been included in this round of "enhanced certification review list." Zhang Hong claimed that her entry and exit requirements were "80 to 90 percent in compliance with relevant requirements." The reason given by the Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center for the rejection was: "Our center has sent a verification request, but has not received an effective response so far, so we are unable to issue you a certification result for the time being."

Zhang Hong explained that during the certification process, the Overseas Study Service Center of the Ministry of Education of my country would confirm information such as "student status, course schedule" with foreign schools via email. She speculated that the school did not reply to the email as required, "the problem must be with the school, but I don't know what the specific problem is." She learned that "it is quite common that students have not obtained certification (for the time being) this year."

Some Chinese students studying in Mongolia have also posted on social media platforms that due to work efficiency and other reasons, some schools are indeed unable to achieve unified standards, reply on time or in a timely manner, "bringing unpredictable risks to international students."

Now, all Zhang Hong can do is wait. The school in Mongolia is in summer vacation, and it is difficult to contact the staff. "We can only wait until the new semester starts in October to see if there is any new progress." She had successfully applied for a teaching position at a domestic university, but "degree certification materials must be submitted before September." She had no choice but to find a new job as an undergraduate student for the time being.

Zhang Hong's experience is not an isolated case. This summer, Sun Hao also graduated from a private university in Mongolia. Although the university was not included in this round of "enhanced certification review list", he has not yet obtained degree certification. He told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that in recent years, some intermediaries would arrange for "transfer students" to study in private universities in Mongolia to shorten their actual study and exit time. "In a one-and-a-half-year school system, some Chinese students only go abroad for half a month." Several interviewed international students, graduates and a staff member of the China Office of a Mongolian university also mentioned this kind of situation to the reporter.

Some people said that "more than one school has similar problems" and "the departure time of students from some schools is very confusing." In response, the Overseas Study Service Center of the Ministry of Education of my country has suspended all certification applications for related schools, requiring the schools to give explanations and launch an investigation.

The Notice on Strengthening the Certification Review of Academic Degrees and Degrees of Some Foreign Institutions (V) states that the Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center continues to pay attention to certification data and related reports. From July 24, a total of 13 institutions, including 5 institutions in Mongolia, have applied to start the enhanced review process. "During the enhanced review period, the processing period of the relevant certification applications of the above-mentioned institutions will be extended accordingly. In principle, it will be no less than 60 working days from the date of submission of the certification application (inclusive). It is recommended that diploma holders of the institutions involved keep in touch with the institutions they are attending to understand the relevant situation."

The certification review process will be strengthened from six aspects: "pre-qualified education, language proficiency, school system requirements, knowledge reserve, teaching mode, and graduation requirements". Therefore, in addition to the regular application materials, applicants are required to submit additional supporting materials, and the certification period is much longer than the usual "within 20 working days".

So why are the relevant institutions included in the "enhanced certification review list"? The online customer service of the Education Service Center for Overseas Students replied that according to Article 28 of the "Measures for the Certification of Overseas Academic Degrees", when there are "differences between the curriculum and certification requirements and the same type of academic degrees in China and abroad", "the Service Center for Overseas Students receives clues from the public that reflect problems with relevant institutions or courses", "the certification data of relevant institutions or courses is abnormal", etc., the Service Center for Overseas Students can initiate the relevant procedures for enhanced review, requiring applicants, certificate issuing institutions or educational institutions and their (local) country (region) quality assurance agencies, education authorities, etc. to assist in providing relevant materials (information), and at the same time extend the certification period.

China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporters noticed that since 2021, the Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center has issued six "Notices on Strengthening Certification Review" and one "Notice on Suspending Certification Applications", involving more than 30 foreign institutions. This is the first time that the Education Ministry's Overseas Study Service Center has issued an "Notice on Strengthening Certification Review" after the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, it was mainly aimed at cracking down on "some foreign institutions using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to launch low-quality online courses targeting the Chinese market."

It can be seen that the release of the "Strengthening Certification Review List" is a dynamic process, and it also sounded the alarm for some institutions and overseas students - the "white list" is not a "talisman". If there are a large number of violations, the relevant institutions will be included in the "Strengthening Certification Review List" at any time, affecting the certification progress. For institutions with serious problems, the application for degree certification may be directly suspended.

Studying abroad should not deviate from its original purpose

In 2022, Shaoyang University spent more than 18 million yuan to introduce 23 doctoral students from Philippine universities, 22 of whom were marked as "graduation and return to school". Adamson University in the Philippines, where these doctoral graduates came from, is a local private university. In November 2021, it was included in the "Strengthening Certification Review List" by the Study Abroad Service Center of the Ministry of Education of my country. Whether the introduction methods and costs of Shaoyang University are reasonable has aroused public doubts. Soon after, the Hunan Provincial Department of Education issued a notice instructing Shaoyang University to correct improper practices in the introduction of doctoral talents. The Hunan Provincial Party Committee dismissed the party secretary of the college.

After this incident, topics such as "Water Master and Water Expo Industrial Chain" continued to attract attention in some regions.

In 1984, the State Council promulgated the "Interim Regulations on Self-funded Study Abroad", which officially opened up the channel for self-funded study abroad in my country. Subsequently, the number of self-funded students studying abroad gradually increased. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the total number of Chinese students studying abroad has increased from 39,000 in 2000 to 703,500 in 2019, an increase of nearly 18 times. As the world's largest source country for international students, my country's international student population is twice that of India, which ranks second.

As the scale of overseas education continues to expand, some problems have also emerged. At the beginning of 2023, Tang Bin, an associate professor at the School of Marxism at Southwest University, and others selected 21 international students of different ages, regions, and academic levels for semi-structured interviews. Summarizing the relevant content of the interview process, they wrote in the paper "Symbolic Consumption and Reflection on Overseas Education Investment" that some overseas students only need academic diplomas to meet rigid indicators such as employment, settlement, and talent introduction. "The pursuit of academic qualifications with 'diplomas first' has deviated from the original intention of investing in overseas education. Academic qualifications have become a 'symbol', and investors directly consume the convenience behind the 'academic qualification symbol'."

Tang Bin and others believe that capital is behind this. They explained that the industrialized remote study abroad service based on the "government-school-institution" model in foreign countries, which relies on the Internet, has further capitalized the investment in overseas education. "Foreign governments need the economic benefits brought by overseas students and encourage their schools to increase the proportion of overseas students. By reaching remote cooperation with Chinese overseas education institutions, they can obtain the resources of the educational institutions, thereby accepting more Chinese students and forming a complete industrial profit chain."

The excessive pursuit of industrial interests has caused some overseas study education to deviate from norms and original intentions.

Study abroad certification has received legislative attention

At present, the phenomenon of "some countries awarding fast-track master's and doctoral degrees to Chinese international students" has received attention at the legislative level.

On April 26 this year, the 9th meeting of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee voted to pass the "Degree Law of the People's Republic of China", which will come into effect on January 1, 2025. It clearly requires that "the recognition of degree certificates issued by overseas educational institutions should be handled strictly in accordance with relevant national regulations."

Prior to this, according to the People's Court Daily, on April 23 this year, the 9th meeting of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee held a group discussion on the second draft of the Degree Law. Tie Ning, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said in the group discussion: "At present, my country's recognition of foreign degrees is mainly based on mutual recognition agreements signed with other countries. Such mutual recognition can distinguish authenticity, but cannot control quality. The provision in the draft that 'the recognition of degree certificates issued by overseas educational institutions should be handled strictly in accordance with relevant national regulations' attempts to respond to this problem, but it is difficult to solve the problem of the quality of degrees from foreign educational institutions."

To this end, Tie Ning proposed that in addition to strictly controlling when signing the agreement, can the State Council Academic Degree Committee be granted the right to investigate to solve this problem? For those who do not meet the quality standards, the certification should be suspended. Tian Xuejun, vice chairman of the National People's Congress Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee, suggested adding provisions to the draft to encourage professional institutions to conduct evaluations and publish evaluation reports to strengthen social supervision.

China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporters saw that after the Ministry of Education's Overseas Study Service Center issued the "Notice on Strengthening Certification and Review", there were still overseas study agents selling the so-called "Mongolian full-time master's degree without going abroad" quotas in WeChat Moments. In the published advertisements, the focus of applications has also begun to shift to other Mongolian institutions on the "white list" that have not yet been subject to strengthened certification and review.

A staff member of the China Office of a private university in Mongolia said in an interview with China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that after the school was included in the "Strengthening Certification Review List", the office strengthened communication with the Mongolian school and began to collect materials and evidence from various sources on suspected violations by study abroad agencies and students, but "rectification cannot be completed by one or two people or one school, it requires a process." She believes that "in the long run, strengthening certification review is actually beneficial, at least it can crack down on some violations, and in the future (the supervision of all schools) will be stricter."

According to the official website of the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia, on July 25, Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Shen Minjuan met with the new Minister of Education of Mongolia, Narinbayar, to exchange views on the development of educational cooperation between the two countries. Narinbayar thanked China for its support and assistance, and said that the new Mongolian government is willing to strengthen academic and subject education cooperation with China. Ambassador Shen said that China is willing to actively carry out educational cooperation with Mongolia, cultivate more outstanding talents, and help the two countries and bilateral relations develop better.

(Zhang Hong, Wang Ming, Li Nan and Sun Hao in this article are all pseudonyms)

China Youth Daily·China Youth Network Intern Reporter Xi Congcong Source: China Youth Daily

Source: China Youth Daily