BLACK CATS ON SKYPE AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO FRAUD IN CHINA ADMISSIONS

AND THE FACTORS TO CONSIDER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1

Introduction ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 2

The Role of Admissions Agents �����������������������������������������������������������������������4

Fraudulent Applications ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������5

The Curious Case of the Spurious Recommendations ������������������������������6

Personal Essays Aren’t Personal �������������������������������������������������������������������� 7

Academic Records ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9

The Tyranny of Cheating and Large Donations �����������������������������������������10

Extracurricular Activities ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������13

Unreliable Skype Interviews �������������������������������������������������������������������������14

Stand-in Communications ���������������������������������������������������������������������������15

Conclusion �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������17

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FOREWORD

Since 2006, Chinese students have comprised the majority of foreign students pursuing secondary, undergraduate, and graduate degrees in the U�S� Despite this, there is still an imbalance between China’s education system and Western admissions culture� This mismatch paired with an intense societal pressure to excel in China fosters fraudulence in the application process at all levels�

Determining the veracity of Chinese application materials is a daunting task for admissions officers who are aware of the detrimental effects of accepting under qualified applicants� As increasing numbers of educational consultancy firms and agencies guide more Chinese applicants through the admissions process, universities and genuinely capable Chinese students suffer the consequences�

This e-book is intended to provide you with more information on the nature and extent of the disconnect between the US and Chinese educational systems leading to fraud� Admissions officers around the world are dealing with similar issues of deceit from overseas Chinese students who are looking for education in all corners of the globe� So despite of the e-book’s focus on U�S� statistics, it is written for and applicable to a global audience�

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INTRODUCTION

China’s economy has seen continued growth over the last several decades and is still the fastest growing economy in the world� A steady rise in household income has likewise increased expenditures on children’s education� Chinese parents fortunate enough to be able to look abroad for their child’s education, come from China’s upper or burgeoning middle class� In 2013, China’s Hurun Report conducted a survey showing that 80% of wealthy Chinese parents planned to send their kids overseas to study� The U�S� is their preferred destination, followed by the U�K� and Canada, respectively�1

Sending kids abroad addresses three issues for Chinese parents:

▶ How to break free of a Chinese education system, which struggles to cultivate independent and creative thought in a collaborative environment�

▶ How to diversify the family’s assets in a time of economic and political uncertainty� A child abroad offers a greater chance for future capital flight and emigration abroad�

▶ How to gain the latest symbol of elite status� An overseas education has replaced luxury vehicles, designer handbags, and expensive apartments as differentiators among wealthy Chinese�

These three reasons have driven more Chinese students to seek higher education abroad than ever before� According to the Institute for International Education’s 2014 “Open Doors” report, the total number of Chinese students in the U�S� has nearly quadrupled over the past decade, jumping from 61,765 in 2003 to 274,439 in 2014� Today, Chinese students constitute the largest population of foreign students in the American educational system� Since 2013-2014, 31�9% of all international students in the U�S� have come from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong�2

1 “Chinese Millionaire Wealth Report 2013 | GroupM 群邑�” 2013� 21 Nov� 2014 <http://www�groupmchina�com/marketing_

insights/chinese_millionaire_wealth_report_2013/>

2 Institute of International Education� (2014)� “Top 25 Places of Origin of International Students, 2012/13-2013/14�” Open Doors

Report on International Educational Exchange� Retrieved from http://www�iie�org/opendoors

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On the other side, Western academic institutions are actively courting applicants from abroad� Not only do international students increase diversity in the student body, but also, at a time of rising costs, budget cuts, decreasing high school graduation numbers and increasing numbers of domestic students unable to afford current tuition rates, full pay international students may mean the difference between an institution thriving and struggling to keep its doors open�

The rapidly increasing demand on both sides, coupled with a mismatch in expectations and understanding has led to what The Chronicle of Higher Education terms “The China Conundrum”, a situation where under qualified Chinese applicants with fraudulent application materials and the institutions that accept them are both set up for failure�3

As increasingly savvy agents learn to manipulate the application process, greater numbers of Chinese students attain that coveted offer letter, only to find themselves struggling once they reach the classroom� These students, with their limited English-speaking abilities, fail to keep pace with their peers in an environment that rewards ability in debate and discourse� Unfortunately, there is no turning back� Once a Chinese student has stepped off the Chinese education track, there is almost no way for them to successfully reintegrate back into the Chinese system� They must forge ahead through the struggle if they are to succeed�

Not only do they have to conquer their own challenges, but also international students who do not have the language or communication skills they purport to have, create difficulties for other students and faculty� The admissions office is then blamed for not doing their job� The critical question is: how can admissions officers recognize, and enroll, genuinely strong Chinese applicants?

Addressing the China conundrum is imperative for the long-term success of Western educational institutions� The first step is to understand how the Chinese admissions industry works�

3 “The China Conundrum - NYTimes�com�” 2011� 1 Dec� 2014 <http://www�nytimes�com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-

china-conundrum�html?pagewanted=all>

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THE ROLE OF ADMISSIONS AGENTS

Agents and consultants are now a dominating force in the China admissions world� Some agencies act as connectors between Western academic institutions and Chinese students hoping to study abroad� Others, for fees ranging from $2,000 to a staggering $60,000 or more, help Chinese parents get their child into an English-speaking institution, by hand-holding them through the entire application process�

Most Chinese students currently enrolled in foreign schools, relied upon multiple intermediaries and agencies to facilitate their admission� This isn’t a new phenomenon – education agents have played a role in sending Chinese students to study abroad for decades� Their assistance in overcoming both language and cultural barriers is invaluable� In most cases, application materials are printed in English, and many students and their parents lack the fluency to complete them� The purpose, structure and content of a personal essay are foreign to most Chinese applicants, and getting a recommendation from a teacher or guidance counselor may be an impossible task�

Students, parents, and institutions should look out for spurious consultants that lack proven track records� Some Western universities have noted large batches of applications arriving from China simultaneously� In some cases, although applicants were from different provinces, application fees were transferred from a single bank branch� In other cases, multiple transcripts for different students showed identical grades in all subjects�

This is not to say there aren’t legitimate education consultants� Many consultants are building solid reputations in the China education industry� However, as more and more Chinese students decide to study abroad, the market for unethical agents who engage in “bulk processing” fraudulent applications will continue to thrive and cutting corners will become increasingly tempting�

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FRAUDULENT APPLICATIONS

How prevalent is admissions fraud amongst Chinese applicants to Western educational institutions? In a 2012 article, New York Times writer Mark McDonald4 cited a report that included the following sobering statistics: Nearly 90% of the recommendation letters for Chinese high school students are falsified; 70% of their personal essays have been ghostwritten, and roughly 50% of the academic transcripts submitted are specious�

Merely completing the application is challenging for most Chinese students� After years of study with unqualified teachers, two-thirds of the students seeking admission in colleges abroad lack the ability to speak or write in English effectively�5 Moreover, Chinese students are simply unaccustomed to filling out application forms� Admission to Chinese high schools and colleges is secured by supplying only the relevant entrance examination results and the student’s national identification number�

4 “Sneaking Into Class From China - NYTimes�com�” 2012� 21 Nov� 2014 <http://rendezvous�blogs�nytimes�com/2012/02/05/

sneaking-into-class-from-china/>

5 “Fraud fears rocket as Chinese seek a place at any price ���” 2013� 21 Nov� 2014 <http://www�timeshighereducation�co�uk/news/

fraud-fears-rocket-as-chinese-seek-a-place-at-any-price/2004704�article>

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THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE SPURIOUS RECOMMENDATIONS

According to World Bank’s 2012 figures, the average student-teacher ratio in the U�S�’s primary and secondary schools is 13:1� China’s average ratio of 18:1 results in crowded classrooms, overworked teachers and little individual attention for students�

While some international and private schools in China follow western pedagogic methods, classroom discussion is not typically encouraged in the public schools, where teachers are more likely to expect students to learn passively, memorize, and regurgitate facts�

Given the large classroom size and an assessment system based solely on test scores, the concept of the “teacher recommendation” is completely foreign� Teachers do not need to write recommendations in the Chinese education system and often do not have a close enough relationship with their students to be able to comment on an individual student’s strengths and weaknesses�

Even fewer teachers will understand what qualities foreign universities are seeking in their applicants or be comfortable writing in English� A polished, compelling letter of recommendation for a Chinese student has more often than not been drafted by a professional agent who is well-versed with the procedural intricacies of applying to universities in the English-speaking world�

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PERSONAL ESSAYS AREN’T PERSONAL

Understanding Chinese educational culture should lead an admissions officer to read applicants’ personal essays with careful eyes�

Independent thought, individuality, and creativity aren’t cornerstones of Chinese culture� Teachers assign essays as vehicles for students to regurgitate subject matter, and students write them in order to earn satisfactory grades� Forming and defending divergent opinions isn’t commonplace� Writing an essay to express personal character, values and opinions is foreign to the majority of Chinese applicants�

These cultural values have ancient roots� The Confucian ethics code Lǐ (礼) puts the well being of the community ahead of the gratification of the self� In its most positive manifestations, Lǐ has fostered a sense of tradition and respect for elders� It has, however, also diminished willingness to challenge norms and has undermined the value of personal sincerity in public life�

Completely ghostwritten or heavily edited personal essays are many applicants’ answer to admissions officers’ seemingly strange request for personal statements� Agents who handle the entire application process include their expertise in writing essays as part of their sales pitches� In fact, the quality of the “personal” essays they produce for candidates is one of the key selling points for agencies and consulting firms; it’s how they distinguish themselves from their numerous competitors�

College-educated foreigners who enter the essay writing business can also earn hefty sums for their outsourced prose�6

The issue of essay writing is possibly connected the views on English study within the Chinese education system� Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, grasped the importance of

6 “I Ghostwrite Chinese Students’ Ivy League Admissions Essays�” 2014� 1 Dec� 2014 <http://www�vice�com/read/i-ghostwrote-

hundreds-of-chinese-students-ivy-league-admissions-essays-897>

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English as a global lingua franca, and declared it the official language of the newly sovereign city-state in 1965. That decision certainly played a crucial role in boosting Singapore’s future commercial competitiveness, but it also had a sociological undertone� Lee harbored concerns about the conservative and insular tendencies of Mainland China culture:

China has more handicaps going forward and more obstacles to overcome than most observers recognize� Chief among these are their problems of governance: the absence of the rule of law, which in today’s China is closer to the rule of the emperor; a huge country in which little emperors across a vast expanse exercise great local influence; cultural habits that limit imagination and creativity, rewarding conformity; a language that shapes thinking through epigrams and 4,000 years of texts that suggest everything worth saying has already been said, and said better by earlier writers;7

His concerns seem prescient, as now there’s a growing movement in China to reduce the emphasis on English-language education� In 2013, for example, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission rebalanced the weightings of the foreign language (usually English) and Chinese portions of the gaokao, the national exam for university entrance� In 2015, gaokao pilot reforms added Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Japanese to the test’s foreign language choices8� Other provincial governments are considering removing the foreign language or English portions of the examinations altogether� English learning for primary school students will also be postponed from first grade to third grade� Chinese Communist Party think tanks are generally backing this trend�

Diminishing support for English language education does not bode well for the families of Chinese students who want to study overseas� If English-language proficiency continues to drop, expect essay fraud to increase�

7 Allison, Graham T� Lee Kuan Yew the Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World� Print�

8 “China Girds for High-Stress ‘Gaokao’ Weekend” <http://www�shorelight�com/blog/chinas-new-gaokao-reform-and-its-

implication-on-international-admissions>

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ACADEMIC RECORDS

Letters of recommendation and personal essays aren’t the only parts of application packages from China that require close scrutiny� Students’ academic records are frequently altered in collusion with school administrators, who, like the agents, have vested interests in their students’ success� Even untouched transcripts provide an inaccurate reflection of a student’s abilities�

What grades in Chinese schools do (and don’t) represent is markedly different from Western scholastic assessment standards� Test scores throughout the school year are rarely a component of the final grade, and, as there are few or no classroom discussions or debates, student participation isn’t a factor� Grades are also not given for assignments or other homework� Instead, comprehensive exams are held twice every semester or once every quarter� These exam scores are the basis of evaluation for students� As such, there is no need for a consistent basis upon which to compare transcripts from different provinces, different cities, or different high schools�

Sometimes Chinese teachers give students low grades to motivate them to prepare well for their exams� This sort of coaxing is intricately woven into the fabric of the Chinese education system, so it’s no wonder students and their parents have little regard for official academic transcripts�

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THE TYRANNY OF CHEATING AND LARGE DONATIONS

Bypassing evaluation methods in the Chinese education system is far from uncommon, and the tactics are many� Rampant cheating on both Chinese and foreign examinations continues to undermine the system’s credibility�

China has two major examinations that assess the academic merits of secondary level students: The zhongkao (中考) and the gaokao (高考)�

The zhongkao (“Senior High School Entrance Examination”) is administered annually and locally in Mainland China� Its results determine which senior high school a junior high student can enter into� High school education isn’t compulsory in China, but without it, students are highly unlikely to advance any further academically�

The gaokao (“National Higher Education Entrance Examination”) is vitally important to any Chinese student looking to go to college� In 2014, 9�39 million Chinese students took the gaokao9� Failing the gaokao, or even doing poorly means the student can’t attend college� This results in grim future employment prospects, and may impact the livelihood of the student’s entire family� Without a university degree, a Chinese student can say goodbye to dreams of leading a comfortable, upper-class life or having a white-collar career�

A “qiangshou” (枪手) (literally ‘hired gun’) will take exams or sit for interviews on behalf of actual candidates using forged identity cards� A qiangshou typically charges $900-$1,600 USD per exam, and not only takes Chinese exams such as the gaokao, but also foreign exams, including the TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE� Some qiangshous work independently; others are affiliated with agencies that handle the whole admission process� A 2013 article in the South China Morning Post mentions one agency blatantly advertising hired guns to sit the January TOEFL exam for the equivalent of $1,960 USD� Depending on the region/city this could be 20-40% of a year’s

9 “China Girds for High-Stress ‘Gaokao’ Weekend ���” <http://www�businessweek�com/articles/2014-06-06/china-girds-for-high-

stress-gaokao-weekend>

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salary for one parent� The majority of qiangshous come from the Chinese countryside, and they often operate with their parents’ blessing� The families see it as a badge of honor their child is taking exams for the children of more prestigious families� Fees may be high enough to cover the qiangshou’s own tuition as well�

Occasionally, the impostors are arrested en masse during crackdowns in both China and Hong Kong, but the reports rarely make the news� Often these incidences are kept quiet for the sake of preserving national pride�

Qiangshous are, unfortunately, just the tip of the iceberg� Increasing numbers of Chinese students are turning to high-tech methods of cheating, relying upon mobile phones and other telecommunication devices to transmit answers� Officials in Beijing have implemented digital detection equipment to scan candidates before they enter exam rooms, but their efforts have met with limited success� One of the “education agencies” boasts on its web site that its wireless technology easily avoids such detection� A student from Liaoning province had a tiny camera hidden in his spectacle frames that could be activated by remote shutter; the camera took photos of the test papers and relayed them to someone outside the exam center� In Guangzhou, police found a wallet-like receiver tucked away in a test-taker’s armpit, and the associated camera was attached to a plastic bottle� Forty students in Sichuan were caught using digital pens that relayed test questions to another location from where the answers were supplied to hearing devices lodged in the students’ ears� One candidate even wore a wired t-shirt that connected to a camera and a mobile device�10

In June 2014, China Central Television exposed a gaokao scandal in the Henan province that implicated at least 127 students and 35 examination officials�11 Several surrogate exam-takers had been paid by parents, teachers or school authorities to sit the college entrance exams on behalf of real applicants� The Shanghai Daily reported police discovered the impostors wearing films of the students’ fingerprints over their own fingers to fool the fingerprint scanning machines into letting them take the test� One of the chief examination officers was secretly filmed telling them not to worry if they failed the fingerprint test, because “money has its magic”�

10 “Chinese Test Cheating Tools Look Like Something ��� - Kotaku�” 2014� 24 Nov� 2014 <http://kotaku�com/chinese-test-cheating-

tools-look-like-something-out-of-1587970164>

11 “Gaokao cheating scandal reveals education flaws - People’s ���” 2014� 1 Dec� 2014 <http://english�people�com�cn/n/2014/0619/

c90882-8743230�html>

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The well-worn tale of rich and influential businessmen visiting Chinese college campuses with suitcases full of money may not be true in the literal sense, but it’s not baseless� Education in China is supposedly free for the first nine years, but elite schools never refuse substantial donations� Many reports agree that entry to a reasonably decent Beijing middle school requires

“gifts” of $16,000 USD and upwards� According to one such story, a student was accepted shortly after his affluent and zealous parents installed an entire elevator system in the school of their choice�12 Parents commonly give teachers luxury items from abroad, gift cards and considerable sums of money simply to curry favor�

Over time, this kind of manipulation is becoming entrenched, with government ministries and big corporations securing seats for their employees’ children by making large “donations”� There are some exceptions to this norm, of course, but honest parents are finding it increasingly hard to compete� In the end, many of them capitulate and join the crowd�

After Xi Jinping was elected President of the People’s Republic of China in November 2012, he vowed to fight systemic corruption, but it’s a monumental battle� In June 2013, there was a riot in a small city in the Hubei province when the education department stepped up supervision during the gaokao� Over 2,000 student protesters trapped officials in the school offices shouting,

“We want fairness; there is no fairness if you don’t let us cheat�”13

In a country where young children are taught the system can be manipulated for the sake of promoting self-interest, expecting high school students and their equally ambitious parents to follow standard procedures and maintain honesty in the academic application process is a tough proposition�

12 “In China, parents bribe to get students into top schools ���” 2013� 10 Dec� 2014 <http://www�washingtonpost�com/world/in-

china-parents-bribe-to-get-students-into-top-schools-despite-campaign-against-corruption/2013/10/07/fa8d9d32-2a61-

11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story�html>

13 “Riot after Chinese teachers try to stop pupils cheating …�” 2013� 20 June 2013 <http://www�telegraph�co�uk/news/worldnews/

asia/china/10132391/Riot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating�html >

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EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Most Western academic institutions highlight the importance of engaging in extracurricular activities, such as music, sports, community volunteerism, and student leadership� While foreign admissions officers may be more interested in the dedication and leadership a student can demonstrate in a few activities, Chinese applicants tend to believe their extracurricular lists should be as long as possible, and are prone to stretching the truth as they add to their lists� Certificates of awards or athletic trophies the student has not won can be easily procured if parents are ready to spend the money�

To be fair, it isn’t that much different outside of China� Applicants around the globe are not above padding their extracurricular activities list� When they do so, however, they’re at much greater risk of being found out� It’s not impossible for a diligent admissions officer to verify a domestic high school student’s records, but the challenge of verifying awards, testimonials and participation reports from China is daunting�

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UNRELIABLE SKYPE INTERVIEWS

Given the unreliability of application forms, recommendation letters, academic transcripts, examination results and extracurricular activity records, an admission officer may turn to Skype or other direct video interviews as a way to make a true assessment of a Chinese applicant’s abilities�

Unfortunately, this option also has its own inherent weaknesses� Many academic officers conduct video interviews with foreign applicants, directly posing questions to students and receiving real-time responses� On the surface, it appears a video interview delivers a veritable, first-hand impression of the candidate� It also appears to provide an opportunity for a savvy interviewer to expose suspected discrepancies in the application materials and assess the student’s conversational abilities� However, Chinese students (and education agents) have found ways to manipulate the common video interview�

Hiring expensive, carefully matched, and well-spoken impostors to sit for the whole video interview is one approach, but it’s not the only way admissions officers can be duped� In one popular anecdote, an admissions officer was conducting an interview with a potential Chinese student via Skype� As they began, the officer noticed the ear of a black cat in the student’s lap� Although the officer thought it was strange, he continued with the interview� At one point mid-way through the interview the “cat” moved, and the admissions officer was astonished to realize there was a woman lying in the student’s lap! The woman, presumably the mother, had been there throughout the interview, whispering answers to her daughter�

This story has a certain amount of entertainment value, but most of the tactics agents and students use to circumvent the video interviews are only slightly more sophisticated� Many admission officers have shared stories of a time they found adults standing in the same room whispering suggested answers to the applicant just outside the view of the computer camera�

Some applicants keep a chat window open on their computers during the video interview� Agents who are listening in on the interview remotely can send appropriate responses to each question via the chat window, and the admissions officer interviewer is none the wiser� How to tell, after all, whether the applicant is formulating his or her own answer during the moment’s pause after a question, or receiving an answer from an external source?

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STAND-IN COMMUNICATIONS

Applying to universities is tremendously stressful and time-consuming for domestic students� It is even more so for international applicants who have to navigate the process in a second language� In particular, Chinese applicants face an overwhelming amount of competition from their peers as well as harbor apprehension about the disparity between the Western and Chinese education systems�

For Chinese students, not only are the pressures related to getting into the right institution very high, but also the consequences of failure are far-reaching� Once Chinese applicants step out of the gaokao track to pursue their studies abroad, it is almost impossible for them to get back into the Chinese system� This is because studying for the gaokao is a full time job, and once students take time out to prepare their applications for overseas institutions, and write the SAT and TOEFL exams, they have already fallen far behind their peers who intend to stay in China�

Hence, once Chinese applicants have made the decision to study abroad, they and their families are very motivated to get into a highly ranked institution� Given that pressure, there is little incentive for them to follow the application process to the letter� Their peers are all doing the same thing – hiring the services of “consultancy firms” who operate with impunity, offering money-back guarantees on acceptance into highly esteemed Western academic institutions�

Agents’ and consultant’s fingers are on most application paperwork out of China– forms, referrals, essays and transcripts – and, they are centrally involved in examinations and interviews� The involvement doesn’t stop there: for most of the process, the agents also act as proxies for students – sometimes pretending to be the students themselves� Early in the application process, students supply personal e-mail, Skype and WeChat IDs to the university’s admissions staff who maintain communication with them� Oftentimes, these e-mail, Skype, and WeChat IDs are set up and monitored directly by the agents, who then reply to all communications from admissions staff, using the student’s identity� In some cases, students also provide fake phone numbers so their agents can handle their phone calls�

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Given the scope of deception throughout the admissions process, this may seem relatively benign� However, it is the ubiquity with which this happens that is the problem� It suggests students in China don’t see these practices as off-putting� They’ve come to expect agents to assume their identities if necessary� The fact that foreign admissions officers might have absolutely no genuine contact with an applicant is immaterial�

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CONCLUSION

China’s admissions industry continues to change and respond to growing demand in English-speaking institutions� In turn, international admission offices also need to change and respond to growing demand from overseas applicants�

China has many talented young people who deserve admission to overseas colleges based solely upon their academic merits� Although identifying these students may seem a daunting task, successfully enrolling good fit Chinese students brings many benefits to the institution� Understanding the differences between the Chinese and Western education systems will help admission officers navigate and avoid common pitfalls in dealing with a growing number of Chinese applicants�