2024-08-16
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"It takes as fast as three months to get a double overseas master's degree, and the time cost is greater than the economic cost", "It takes half a month to get a single American master's degree, and it is absolutely recognized by companies", "It only takes five years to go from a technical secondary school to a doctorate"... Recently, Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters found many advertisements for overseas "quick academic qualifications" on the Internet, some of which directly posted the overseas academic degree certifications of multiple students.
Some consultants at institutions that provide academic qualifications said that some people would spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan to buy an overseas academic qualification. Ms. Jia from Langfang, Hebei, told reporters that one of her colleagues had successfully obtained a certificate through the institution's "special project", from a self-taught undergraduate degree at a junior college to a master's degree. "In order to get the points to settle down quickly, my colleague spent about 500,000 yuan and got an overseas master's degree certificate and a certification from the China Education Service Center in five months."
In recent years, the labor market has increasingly higher requirements for education, and job seekers' demand for higher education has also increased. The "National College Graduate Employment Trends and Outlook 2023" released by Liepin Big Data Research Institute shows that from the increase in education requirements for new positions for fresh graduates for three consecutive years, the demand for doctoral and master's degrees has increased significantly, exceeding 100%. Companies are in urgent need of highly educated talents, and the recruitment threshold is on the rise.
Industry insiders revealed that academic qualifications are not only a hard threshold in the recruitment stage, but also in layoffs by large companies such as Internet giants. A college entrance examination consultant at Huatu Education Shanxi Branch said that high academic qualifications can help employees get salary increases, promotions, settlement points and other conveniences, and these benefits will stimulate people's demand for higher academic qualifications.
As a result, a market for buying and selling "quick academic qualifications" was created.
The reporter recently visited several institutions to learn that since the threshold for obtaining overseas academic qualifications is relatively low and the process is fast, and it is also recognized by society to a certain extent, many people are willing to spend money directly to improve their academic qualifications. Faced with such a large market demand, many institutions have "showed their magical powers".
Some took advantage of the epidemic to get a certificate without going abroad. The "Supplementary Explanation on the Qualification and Degree Certification of Overseas Students during the COVID-19 Epidemic" released by China Study Abroad Network on March 19, 2021 shows that some universities and intermediary agencies in some countries have sold diplomas in disguise under the pretext of the epidemic. The reporter's investigation found that such situations still exist. The reporter secretly visited an institution in Haidian District, Beijing, and learned that the institution has a special project for quick certificate issuance, which is very popular. As long as the applicant meets the relevant conditions, he can get a certificate without going abroad. Ms. Jia's colleague in Langfang, Hebei, got his certificate through this project.
The reporter checked the relevant announcements released by the China Study Abroad Network during the epidemic and found that overseas students can take part or all of their courses online, so the fact that their overseas stay time does not meet the requirements of the school system will not be a factor affecting their degree certification results. The relevant person in charge of the agency said that this project took advantage of the loopholes in the above policy.
"During the epidemic, many foreign schools were not fully enrolled, so there were vacancies for us to fill, but the school, major, and graduation date will not be known until the certification." If the applicant wants a school in the top 100 of the QS ranking, the price is 1 million yuan. The person in charge also claimed that he could "get" the China Overseas Study Service. Since this project started "operating" in 2022, it has cooperated with schools in Europe, America, and Asia, and many people have signed up. The reporter wrote to the China Overseas Study Service to verify the above situation, but as of press time, no reply has been received.
Some institutions claim that it only takes 5 years to go from a technical secondary school to a doctorate, and they can also help improve your background. During the undercover investigation, a consultant from the institution who called himself Mr. Liu recommended the Belarusian State University program to the reporter, claiming that it "guaranteed admission" and "guaranteed graduation" because the school's chief admissions officer in China is a member of the institution. Mr. Liu emphasized that the institutions that the institution cooperates with are all registered with the Chinese Ministry of Education, and they will definitely be recognized when they return.
"A famous technical secondary school student obtained his doctorate degree from us in less than five years. He first spent one and a half years to get a college diploma, then upgraded to a master's degree, and studied for three years for a master's and doctoral degree, which cost a total of about 450,000 yuan." Teacher Liu said that when the student returned to China to find a job, the institution also helped him improve his background.
There are also institutions that claim that it takes only half a month to get a US master's degree certificate, which can be used as a springboard for doctoral studies. A private company manager in Taiyuan, Shanxi, once spent 70,000 to 80,000 yuan to buy a US master's degree certificate at an international education institution in Beijing, and also introduced several of his employees to buy one. The institution's consultant said that the certificate can prove a master's degree, and many private and foreign companies "only look at what degree you have", and even many corporate executives will buy the certificate. A single master's degree can also be used as a transition to apply for a dual-certificate doctorate in South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries, and become a springboard for doctoral studies.
"After the epidemic, more and more people are applying for documents. A one-year master's degree can get the electronic version of the degree materials in about half a month, and the graduation time can be chosen at will." said the agency's consultant.
The reporter found out that there are quite a few of these so-called academic qualification improvement institutions, and their operation model is relatively "mature". Academic qualification improvement institutions in Shenzhen, Jinan and other places even said that they can privately connect with multiple 985 and 211 colleges and universities in China to provide domestic full-time undergraduate and master's degree dual certificate services. However, the other party refused to disclose the subsequent process and results of the students' application on the grounds of "protecting the privacy of the students", so it is impossible to verify whether their words are true.
The reporter searched the keyword "education level" on the consumer online complaint platform "Black Cat Complaint" and found a total of 41,392 complaint records, most of which were about "false advertising" and "refusal to refund".
The chaos of buying and selling overseas "quick academic qualifications" disrupts the educational order, undermines educational equity, and damages the credibility of official certification agencies. In this regard, the interviewees suggested that, first, the overseas academic qualification certification should be strictly reviewed. A human resources manager in Beijing mentioned that employers may conduct background checks on relevant personnel when recruiting for key positions, but it is difficult to distinguish whether the academic qualifications are purchased. The cost of identification and screening is very high. Most companies can only rely on the certification of China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center and China Overseas Study Service. It is recommended to control from the source, and official certification agencies continue to strengthen the certification review, combine a number of auxiliary materials to judge, and academic qualification certification also needs to be "strict in and out". At the same time, when employers have doubts about a certain academic qualification, the education authorities need to actively cooperate with the review and appraisal and smooth the feedback channels.
Second, we need to strengthen the quality control of accredited institutions. "The accreditation of overseas degrees cannot be limited to authenticity, but also to quality control." Xing Yuan, a sociology professor at Shanxi University, said that we should strictly control the quality of mutually recognized institutions, update the list of institutions in a timely manner, and suspend the accreditation of institutions that do not meet the quality standards, so as not to affect the orderly evaluation of talents by the society. Liu Junhai, a professor at the School of Law of Renmin University of China, suggested that while improving the information disclosure of accredited institutions, we should further strengthen the supervision of intermediary institutions and improve market transparency.
The third is to standardize the release of academic qualification improvement information. The current academic qualification improvement market is relatively chaotic. Many institutions take advantage of the public's urgent desire to improve their academic qualifications to make money. They register multiple accounts with different institution names on online platforms to mislead the public. Some institutions run away after getting the money. Xing Yuan and others suggested that the review of relevant information should be strengthened, and the platform should be urged to mark and clean up illegal information in a timely manner.
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph
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