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Disgruntled parents in Zhejiang have complained to provincial education authorities over a policy that gave 19 children of government officials and teachers special treatment in college entrance examinations. These Practices are often linked to abuse of power and corruption, showed the vulnerability of the education system.

In one hour, and for about 38 dollars, you can get a false university degree in China, but the enforcement of punishment is making it ever more difficult to use such fraud to find a job or get into a foreign university. The measures introduced by China have curbed fraud and many fake degrees are now detected through authentication procedures; however, some genuine diplomas have been awarded to bogus students.

Eight parents and teachers who used hi-tech equipment to help children cheat in Chinese college entrance exams have been sent to prison. They were given sentences of six months to three years after being found guilty of using mobile phones, tiny earpieces or mini scanners in order to obtain state secrets.

Because obtaining any education is seen as the main goal by most Chinese, the new private universities which have appeared in almost every major province are seen like an opportunity to lower Chinese University Examinations scores to have access to superior education.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has ordered the auditing of university heads from 2007. Analysts say the move is aimed at curbing corruption in universities after several embezzlement cases were uncovered in state universities recently. In 2006, former president of Tianjin University was removed from his position of deputy to the National People's Congress for his role in the school's loss of 12.8 million U.S. dollars.

An increasing number of college students in China are hiring surrogates to take English-language examinations for them. The business of hiring a "gunman" is growing at an unprecedented rate on campuses. In order to graduate from a bachelor's program, all students are required to pass English proficiency exams know as the College English Test Level 4. Fees for a pass in the CET-4 are around US$120. Many of the ads are placed by agencies which also propose tests such as TOEFL and IELTS, for which agencies charge as much as $1,500 for a pass.

Beijing municipality is revising the existing norms on professional ethics for the primary and middle school teachers. The revision will involve setting up of a series of systems concerning the post responsibility, and supervision and punishment of teachers in implementing the norms of the professional ethics. Unqualified teachers will be removed from the profession.

Ad hoc education fees have increased the last years. Many blame inadequate government input. However, even if ad hoc fees are levied, where does the cash end up? In Central China's Hunan Province, it is reported that an annually charged fee of 20 yuan (US$2.20) has been levied on every pupil for six years. The bureau also collected millions more from students for a sports facility fund but the sports centre was never built.

Since the 1990s, corruption has seriously threatened mainland China's universities in their teaching, research, service to society, and international links and exchanges. Yet, discussions of corruption have been largely confined to exchanges on the Internet. The Chinese masses know little of these discussions. The government has just begun to address this issue by instituting countermeasures.

Corruption is a widespread problem; exam cheating is on the rise with technologies such as cell phones.