Half a month talk | Overseas has changed, domestic famous schools choose? "International College Entrance Examination Immigration" raises concerns about education fairness
Half-month talk reporter Chen Mengyang Chen Fanjing Wang Ying Zheng Tianhong
Chinese students who grew up and studied in China, in order to avoid the pressure of competition for the college entrance examination, they took advantage of policy loopholes and turned into "students", enjoying various preferential policies for admission to prestigious universities in China-this has become more and more intense in recent years. The phenomenon of immigration is widely criticized. Industry experts and the public believe that the certification threshold for foreign students should be raised, screening conditions should be strengthened, admission criteria should be clarified, and a fairer education environment should be created.
1 The phenomenon of "international college entrance examination immigration" is increasing
"In recent years, with the increase in the number of international students, in addition to the problem of'super national treatment' in the admission criteria of foreign students, there has also been a phenomenon of'international college entrance examination immigration', which has destroyed the enrollment ecology of international students in colleges and universities." The proposal of Yu Minhong, a member of the CPPCC and chairman of the New Oriental Education Technology Group, "Recommendations on Regulating Enrollment Policies for Foreign Students and Preventing International College Entrance Examination Immigration" caused a wave of waves.
"International Gaokao Immigration" refers to Chinese people who obtain foreign nationality or permanent residency through various channels, participate in the assessment of foreign students or overseas Chinese students in domestic universities as foreigners or overseas Chinese, so as to avoid the domestic college entrance examination and enter China's prestigious universities. The phenomenon.
It is reported that compared with the general college entrance examination in China, the joint entrance examination taken as an overseas Chinese student has the characteristics of fewer examination subjects, simple examination questions, high admission rate and low competition. "If you want to go to a good school in China, parents have to buy school district housing, and children have to stay up late to do questions and go to tutoring classes. But taking the joint exam is much simpler, even if it costs a little money, it's worth it." A plan to send the child abroad The parent said.
In 2019, 7 students were questioned as "cross-border college entrance examination immigrants" by the admissions office of Jinan University. In order to meet the application requirements, from the end of 2018 to the beginning of 2019, the parents of these children were all divorced, and remarried foreigners or overseas Chinese who did not know each other but qualified, so that the children could obtain the status of overseas Chinese children. This example highlights the increasing phenomenon of some students changing their identities to take the "shortcut" of the college entrance examination.
In the short term, international college entrance examination immigrants use deception, fraud and even illegal means to "export to domestic sales" to obtain special college enrollment treatment, which makes it easier to obtain the opportunity to attend a prestigious school, challenging education equity. In the long run, if they find a job in China after graduation, they can enjoy preferential treatment again in the name of returnees. This is obviously unfair to the domestic candidates who have been squeezing a single-plank bridge for ten years.
2 intermediary train handling, increase the difficulty of identification
“Immigration can be processed in two months at the earliest. The threshold for investment immigration in countries like Greece and Malta is about 1.8 million yuan. Countries such as Spain and Portugal are more expensive, about 3.8 million yuan. If you just want to obtain overseas Chinese status, you can actually choose Countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vanuatu have relatively loose policies and low capital costs." The head of an immigration agency told the reporter of Banyuetan who consulted on the immigration policies of the college entrance examination that for Malaysia’s second home plan, foreigners only need to be in the university. May bank deposit 300,000 ringgit (equivalent to about 480,000 yuan), you can get 10 years of residency in Malaysia, and the one-person application, the whole family is signed.
In response to the early phenomenon of buying foreign passports directly through intermediaries and entering China to take the foreign student examinations, the Ministry of Education issued regulations in November 2009 that, starting from 2010, applicants for studying in China must "hold a valid foreign passport or nationality certificate for 4 years (Inclusive) above, and have actually lived abroad for more than two years in the last 4 years".
This has indeed raised the threshold of immigration for the international college entrance examination, but with the help of an intermediary, it is not difficult to cross it.
"Even native Chinese, as long as they have obtained the status of overseas Chinese, and then sent to a special international school for foreigners, after three years of professional training, they can "perfectly" meet the qualifications of overseas Chinese students." An intermediary consultant said, As long as parents are willing to spend money to allow candidates to transform from mainland candidates into "overseas Chinese students", they can obtain the qualifications for participating in the national joint recruitment of overseas Chinese students.
According to my country's relevant policies and regulations, the establishment of overseas Chinese status is not difficult. The "Regulations on Defining the Status of Overseas Chinese and Foreign Chinese Returned Overseas Chinese Dependents" issued by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council in 2009 clarified that overseas Chinese are Chinese citizens designated to live abroad, and "settled" means that Chinese citizens have obtained long-term or permanent residency rights in the country, and Has stayed in the country of residence for two consecutive years, with a cumulative stay of not less than 18 months for the two years. In addition, Chinese citizens who have not obtained long-term or permanent residency in the country of residence, but have obtained legal residence status for more than 5 consecutive years (including 5 years) in the country of residence, and have accumulatively stayed in the country of residence for not less than 30 months within 5 years, Also regarded as overseas Chinese.
Long-term enjoyment of the “preferential treatment policy”, coupled with the liberalization of immigration policies and long-term residence policies in countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines, has caused many parents and students to abandon simple and rude practices such as early registration fraud and other simple and rude practices. Instead, they use policy loopholes to wander around. The border between legality and illegality increases the difficulty of distinguishing immigrants from the international college entrance examination. This has also given birth to a group of intermediary agencies that operate transnational college entrance examination immigration and form an industrial chain.
3 Raise the threshold of the system to ensure education fairness
Xiong Bingqi, deputy dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said that from a procedural point of view, most institutions that operate mainland candidates to participate in the overseas Chinese joint exams are legal. He believes that the pursuit of maximization of profits by commercial organizations under the existing joint examination policy is not a regulatory issue but a system design issue. He said that if we want to keep the joint entrance exam for overseas Chinese students and crack down on "international college entrance examination immigration", we must raise the entry threshold for the joint entrance exam for overseas Chinese students and strengthen the review.
Recently, the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice on Regulating the Acceptance of International Students in Our Colleges and Universities", clarifying that both or one of the parents are Chinese citizens, and candidates who have foreign nationality at birth must be recent when applying for qualifications for international students. Have a record of actual residence in a foreign country for more than 2 years within 4 years. This raises the threshold for these students to enter domestic colleges and universities, but it has no real impact on the above-mentioned students who operate "international college entrance examination immigration" through intermediaries.
The issue of "International College Entrance Examination Immigration" has become a soft underbelly affecting education equity, and urgent attention is needed to be resolved as soon as possible.
First, continue to upgrade the certification requirements for foreign students, increase the time required for foreign students to obtain foreign nationality and time to live abroad, and further restrict "international college entrance examination immigration". Strictly review and calculate the applicant's foreign passport certificate, nationality certificate, Chinese nationality cancellation certificate, and entry and exit signature time. It can add personal statement, examiner dialogue, and certification system for auxiliary review and certification.
Second, it is necessary to establish a benchmark for the academic level of foreign students. Yu Minhong and other industry insiders believe that the only unified test for foreign students in universities is the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK). This test only assesses the Chinese language proficiency, and is too simple to measure the overall academic level of students. In a sense, this has further catalyzed the choice of transnational college entrance examination immigration for Chinese parents and students.
Finally, it is necessary to complete the definition of the academic examination system, standards, content and operation mode of our country’s international students as soon as possible. "Double first-rate" colleges and universities can set relatively higher standards. The Ministry of Education shall publish an annual supervision and evaluation report on the Chinese government scholarships for foreign students and the scholarships of local universities and colleges to ensure that the foreign students who receive the scholarship have the corresponding academic ability. (Published in "Ban Yue Tan" Issue 14 of 2020)