Educational authorities in Shanghai have increased efforts to halt a scam whereby local college hopefuls pass themselves off as overseas Chinese students to enjoy a smoother admissions process.

 

From now on onwards, only applicants with a valid foreign permanent residence permit having spent two years abroad between April 17, 2003, and April 17, 2007, will be eligible for overseas student status in college entrance examinations.

 

All residential records will be verified by the country's immigration police, the Shanghai Educational Examination Authority revealed yesterday, adding that overseas study experiences and business trips will no longer be acceptable.

 

Owing to the language barrier and educational system differences, overseas Chinese students are usually able sit an easier college entrance paper than their native peers.

 

Hence, native Chinese students aiming to abuse this loophole have become a veritable plague for the exam authority and university officials.

 

Among the 5,200-plus applicants last year, only 84 students possessed genuine overseas living records lasting over two years.

 

Shen also underlined that it was likely that some Chinese students had purchased fake passports to better manipulate the system.

 

Last year, Shanghai University rejected applications from 10 students who hold passports in Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam after it came to light that all ten hailed from the same high school in Shanxi Province. Fudan University similarly expelled 12 students holding fake Bolivian passports in 2005 with all the culprits being remitted to authorities. 

 

(Shanghai Daily March 20, 2007)