Top Chinese Officials accused of Academic Corruption

Chinese micro-bloggers have exposed massive academic corruption among top Chinese leaders and academic institutions. This brings into question the quality of many doctoral dissertations from top officials throughout the country.

 

A Sino micro-blogger ‘China Business Newspaper Yan Yaobin’ exposes plagiarism in the top ranks of Chinese leaders, the most recent being that of Hebei Province official, Yang Rui who had less than 20% original content in his doctoral thesis.

 

A detailed comparison shows that Yang Rui’s thesis titled: ‘Research on the Hebei Province’s Economic Structure in the Perspective of a Harmonious Society’, had up to 80% plagiarised material.

 

According to the Financial News Network 60 members out of the 250 or so new members of the Provincial Standing Committees in 19 provinces, had used a PhD title in their resumes—yet only 11 had completed their doctoral studies before entering politics. The other 49 members were undertaking a doctoral program while holding a political position. How many of their degrees are genuine?

 

[Gong Shengli, China Financial Think-tank Researcher]: 

"In China, such problems are common; China’s academic standards have always had a huge loophole. We’ve all seen such a thing—from a University president to a National Academy of Sciences member, there’s plagiarism.”

 

A mainland cultural critic says, in China, colleges are as corrupt as officials.

 

[Ye Kuangzheng, Mainland Cultural Critic]: 

"In China now, it has become an era of the ‘academic society’. Promotion is closely linked to academic degrees, so now a large number of officials who may have been a specialist in the past, have become a PhD or Masters graduate—the situation is prevalent among Chinese officials."

 

[Ye Kuangzheng, Mainland Cultural Critic]: 

"I can receive 4 to 5 messages a week, advertising education. The content is about doctorate study enrolment, and you can obtain a PhD degree without any examinations. ”

 

Many people are suspicious about Sthe authenticity of top Officials' doctoral dissertations and the believability of their PhD degrees.