Foundinchina.com

Chinese students at Newcastle University have been rumbled after they were unable to handle the course material or workload. This story  from the BBC is the tip of a very large iceberg:

Most of the 49 Chinese students, along with one Taiwanese pupil, had enrolled on business studies courses which they started in September.

But lecturers became suspicious when they were unable to keep up with work.

Their applications were rechecked and forged English language and degree certificates were discovered.

A (Newcastle) University spokesman said: “We would strongly advise other universities to look very carefully at the systems they have in place to detect fraudulent applications and to strengthen them if necessary.  

About time, too. The desire of young Chinese, not to mention their parents, to secure overseas placements - a pathway to citizenship - in America, Britain, Australia, and elsewhere has long since overidden any moral considerations (if considered at all) met along the way.

No, it’s not every overseas Chinese student who’s at it, but the problem is endemic. Chinese parents want to secure the best possible future for both themselves and their children. The idea planted deep in the mind of a million families is that getting their sons and daughters enrolled overseas will be the answer to all their problems and economic hopes.

With a typical determination to reach this goal ’by any means’ countless aspiring overseas Chinese students lacking sufficient funding, qualifications, or experience forge documents to make good the shortfall and , all too often, get away with it.

I believe a little blame for the extent of this problem lies at the door of those institutions who eye the demand for places from foreign students a little too greedily, a fact that I’m sure has led to a certain lack of scrutiny on the part of some universities when screening overseas applications.

I believe screening by the immigration authorities of all countries should be thorough for prospective foreign students. One reason is this: Given that overseas study often leads to work and citizenship in the host country, authorities should be doing their utmost to ensure that students not only meet financial, academic, and health criteria, but also meet the moral and ethical standards necessary to conduct themselves properly in their host countries. Cheating their way to university places simply doesn’t cut it.

Now the tip of the iceberg has been uncovered it’s time to start chipping away at the vast submerged block.