Bearing names similar to top universities, China's fake colleges woo and swindle high school graduates through slick recruitment websites.
A list released earlier this week by sdaxue.com, a site that helps students choose higher educational institutions, has exposed 60 Chinese universities or colleges as unaccredited diploma mills.
The website published two similar lists in 2013 featuring different fake schools. The most recent list pushes the total number of exposed bogus colleges to 210.
Of all the listed colleges, 83, or 44 percent, are located in Beijing, where many of the country's top universities are concentrated, according to sdaxue.com. Shanghai comes in second, with 15 fake colleges.
The institutions' names, though slightly altered, are extremely similar to key Chinese universities and colleges, leading to confusion among students and their parents. Though their accreditation is usually fabricated or out of date, the institutions are still recruiting students, according to sdaxue.com.
The case has led to accusations of lax supervision, which has been blamed for other high-profile scandals, including food safety and environmental violations, and eroding public trust.
"Since these are fake universities, why are they still in operation? Where are the supervisors?" said a comment by user "Bingrongxingshi" on microblog Sina Weibo.
The list comes at a particularly sensitive time as millions of students are preparing to sit the make-or-break gaokao, China's college entrance examination. High school graduates typically choose the universities they will attend after the gaokao.
BOGUS COLLEGES
Xinhua reporters investigated one of the fly-by-night universities in central China's Hunan Province this week.
"Established in 1985, our university helps develop talent in the nonferrous metal sector," reads the description on the website of Hunan Quyuan University, reportedly located in Hunan's Yueyang City. Pictures show modern buildings in a beautiful environment. The university claims to cover an area of 320,500 square meters.
The university's introduction on its website, however, was found to be plagiarized from North China University of Technology. In addition, its notification board, newsletters and pictures of its school emblem were all copied from other colleges.
