From admission to teaching suspected of fraud How does this on-the-job overseas master's and doctoral program make money?

From admission to teaching, it is suspected of "one-stop" fraud

How does this in-service overseas master's and doctoral program make more than 100 million yuan?

In order to obtain a master's or doctoral degree from a so-called well-known overseas university without going abroad, many white-collar workers did not hesitate to spend tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, only to find that they had fallen into a flickering "big pit".

Recently, some students reported to the Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter that an institution called "Xuewei International Research Institute" (hereinafter referred to as "Xuewei") went to the empty building, the course was interrupted, and there was no way to refund. According to incomplete statistics, the suspension of classes in the institution involved more than 1,000 students in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and other places, and the tuition fee was hundreds of millions of yuan.

The reporter's investigation found that Xuewei is an enterprise engaged in services such as study abroad intermediary and information consultation (namely Shanghai Xuewei Education Technology Co., Ltd. and its branches in other parts of the country), which claims to cooperate with many overseas institutions to organize on-the-job degree programs such as MBA, and recruits students under the brand of "Xuewei International Research Institute". Some of the overseas institutions that cooperate with it have been closed, some have terminated cooperation, and some have cooperated, but they do not involve teaching and degree awarding. Under the "one-stop" packaging of Xuewei, the drama of "taking a diploma without examination" has been staged repeatedly, and even offline institutions have run away, and online enrollment is still continuing.

After spending 13,<> yuan on two classes, the institution "ran away."

Mr. Ruan from Shanghai enrolled in the on-the-job psychology doctoral program of the Catholic University of San Antonio (also known as "Wukang University") in Spain through Xuewei last September, and paid 9,13 yuan for it. According to the introduction on the Xuewei website, the program is admitted without examination, and after admission, 10 courses such as psychological research methods and social psychology are taken together, and successful completion of all courses and thesis research will be awarded the "Doctoral Certificate in Psychology".

After paying for the fee, Mr. Ruan took two classes in September and November last year, entitled "Corporate Personnel Psychology" and "Psychological Behavior and Leadership", at a hotel in downtown Shanghai.

"At that time, there were several schools where students took classes together, and even doctoral and master's students took the same class, and in addition to the doctoral program of Wukang University, there were master's programs of other schools." Mr. Nguyen said.

In February this year, Xuewei suddenly notified the course to be interrupted. The head teacher of the project issued a notice saying: "Xuewei recently encountered the problem of broken capital chain, and the Shanghai academic affairs team was owed wages, I hope the company will give appropriate treatment." The boss Zou Moumou has been in a state of evasion and has not given any explanation and solution. ”

Xuewei's Shanghai headquarters in an office building in Shanghai's Xuhui District is empty. Similarly, Xuewei offices in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuxi and other cities are closed. The reporter contacted Zou Moumou, the person in charge of Xuewei, many times, but to no avail.

On the other hand, Xuewei's enrollment is still ongoing, and its official website and official Douyin account are still selling overseas master's and doctoral program courses, and you can register for trials. The customer service of the Douyin account of "Shanghai Xuewei Shuo Ph.D. Education" said at the time of enrollment: "We now have dozens of majors such as business administration, and you can leave contact information for specific details..."

The students spontaneously formed a "rights defense group" to ask Xuewei for explanations, but neither the class nor the refund received a substantive reply. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 10,<> rights defense trainees, located in more than <> cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Wuxi, and other cooperative universities are Asia City University in Malaysia and Brooks College in the United States.

Pay for half a year but have no student status Cooperation with overseas universities is tricky

The reporter's interview found that before Xuewei suspended classes, the relevant projects were full of doubts, and the so-called overseas cooperation claimed by Xuewei was tricky, and student registration was difficult to achieve.

Mr. Nguyen learned from Xuewei staff that many students, including him, were not registered at Vukang University. "After half a year, we are not registered students of Wukang University, how can we get a degree?"

A number of rights defense trainees also confirmed to reporters that the student status was "lost". One student said: "It has been almost 8 months since I paid the fee, I have taken half of the 12 classes but I have not yet registered as a student, and now the institution has 'run away', and I am afraid that the student status is even more dramatic." ”

In fact, Xuewei does not have the qualifications to teach and issue academic qualifications on its own. According to the registration information of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Xuewei's institutions in various places are enterprise in nature, and their business scope includes self-funded study abroad intermediary services, etc., that is to say, Xuewei cooperates with Wukang University knowing that it is impossible to issue academic qualifications, and its self-teaching behavior is also suspected of exceeding the scope of operation.

What is even more shocking is that some overseas institutions that have cooperated with Xuewei have long terminated their cooperation with it, and some have long been closed, but Xuewei still carries the brand of these institutions in admissions advertisements.

City University of Asia in Malaysia issued a notice of revocation of authorization on March 3 last year: "With immediate effect, the agency relationship between City University of Asia and Shanghai Xuewei Education Technology Co., Ltd. will be terminated, and the authorization of Shanghai Xuewei Education Technology Co., Ltd. will be revoked." However, to this day, the admissions advertisement of the school's MBA degree program is still hung on the official website of Xuewei.

The so-called Brooks College that Xuewei claims to work with is not available on the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. It is understood that the school once existed, but it closed in 2008.

"One-stop" packaging from enrollment to issuance

Since the so-called cooperation between Xuewei and overseas colleges is doubtful, how does it fool students into paying for classes step by step?

First of all, Xuewei's curriculum is packaged as "tall", and the teaching team advertised is almost exclusively scholars from well-known Chinese universities. However, many scholars on the list said that they were not Xuewei's mentors, and "expressed shock and anger at Xuewei's use of his own image to recruit students."

"Actually, the course is very 'water'." Ms. Wang, a trainee, said that she enrolled in the master's program in health management at Clermont Business School in France, but many people from different majors took classes together. Another student told reporters that many of Xuewei's online classes were recorded many years ago, "When the lecturer said, 'This year is 2018,' I felt fooled." ”

Secondly, on the issue of student status, Xuewei makes students believe that they have been admitted to overseas universities by "manipulating and doing". A student who participated in the Wukang University project showed the reporter his "student card", which was printed with the logo of Wukang University, a string of 6-digit "student numbers" and his passport number, but entering this information into the official website of Wukang University could not find any results. In addition, Xuewei will also issue a so-called "certificate of study" at the request of students, but only the payment and seal of Xuewei's party, and there is no official recognition of Wukang University.

In terms of degree evaluation, Xuewei always emphasizes the legitimacy and formality of the overseas universities it cooperates with, and confuses this with the formality of the degree. A student who has obtained the so-called "degree from an overseas institution" in Xuewei told reporters that the "degree" cannot pass the certification of foreign academic degrees of the Service Center for Study Abroad of the Ministry of Education, in this regard, Xuewei staff said that it can be certified through the "talent assessment and appraisal service center" set up by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in various places, and showed the "certification results". The reporter found that the result was issued by a private enterprise, which had nothing to do with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and had no authority to conduct degree certification.

"Now it seems that Xuewei has already deceived students a lot, and hopes that consumers will take this as a guide, polish their eyes, and cautiously view the 'test-free overseas study' programs in the market." Mr. Nguyen said.

(Reporter Pan Xu, Wu Zhendong, Xinhua Daily Telegraph)