The
Jinan Times is a daily newspaper based in Shandong province. Today’s
front page features a picture of a distressed student along with a phony
university admissions letter. The headline reads: “68 ‘university
students’ realize on the eve of their graduation that they have been
duped.” The story is about a recently uncovered higher education scam,
where a man called Zhao Lianshan distributed fake university admission
offers to students who had not scored high enough on the entrance exam
to get in.
Zhao’s letter offered these would-be students
admission to the Shandong Institute of Light Industry, through a new
pilot program for students who had not scored as well. They could enroll
as full-time students for four years, and pay about RMB 8,000 per year
in tuition. Sixty-eight students agreed to enroll, and it was not until
June 3, 2012, four years later, that they realized they had never been
enrolled in the Shandong Institute of Light Industry. The whole college
career had been a sham, and Zhao Lianshan, the man who devised it, has
disappeared.
As one student told the Jinan Times, “Until now, our
teachers all claimed to be from the Shandong Institute. We only just
found out they’re not affiliated with the university at all. So now
they’re avoiding us, and not answering their phones.”
The fake
school was officially set up as a training school on the grounds of the
Shandong Institute. It was in charge of its own admission, finances,
teaching and administration. Yet the letterheads were fake, and copied
from the university itself.
When asked about the incident, the
local police said, “we ourselves are victims here.” They would like to
track down Zhao, but have been unsuccessful.
The students who
were tricked are very anxious about their futures, and several are
hesitant to tell their families what has happened.
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