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As tens of thousands of Chinese students prepare to study in the U.S., they might reflect on the experience of some of those who went before them. According to an estimate by a U.S. education company, some 8,000 Chinese students were expelled from American universities last year alone – and the main reasons were poor grades and cheating.

As a record number of Chinese students stream into American universities, verification companies have sprouted up to help combat doctored transcripts, falsified essays, and surrogate test-takers. They vie against another set of Chinese companies, which turn out false applications and seek to profit off the frenzy for a US degree. Verification companies such as InitialView test College-bound Chinese students by filming a video interview to prove their speaking abilities match their applications.

The United States firm that owns the SAT, a college entrance exam accepted by many US colleges and universities, cancelled plans to administer the test this weekend at centres in China and Macau following concerns that some students may have obtained information about questions in advance. Tests scheduled to be administered Saturday in Bahrain and Kazakhstan also were cancelled. Students in Hong Kong sat for the test Saturday as scheduled.

A Chinese university president was sentenced a lifetime in jail for taking bribes and embezzlement in a court in Southeast Jianxi Province on Tuesday, according to Xinhua. So far this year, 32 university officials have been accused of taking bribes or other. In November, eight school leaders, including the president of the elite Communication University of China in Beijing were removed from their jobs for corruption.

In one week at the end of 2015, five presidents or senior vice-presidents of four of Beijing’s most prestigious universities were punished or penalised for violating laws and Communist Party regulations on embezzlement and corruption. In 2015, a total of 52 members of senior management at universities and scholars were reprimanded on similar charges by the Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, or CCDI, as part of an anti-corruption campaign in universities that started in 2013.

Universities in Shanghai have been taken to task for inflating graduate employment figures as the Shanghai City administration, in cooperation with higher education institutions, recently published its first report on the destination of recent graduates. While some have lauded the report for increasing transparency on employment prospects for graduates, others have said the Shanghai government was colluding with universities to “entice” students to enrol in these universities.

Twenty-one people have been arrested after US authorities set up a fake university to expose immigration fraud. Officials said the accused knew that the University of Northern New Jersey did not exist, but they were unaware it was a ruse run by immigration agents. The defendants acted as brokers for more than 1,000 foreigners who sought to maintain student and work visas, prosecutors said. Most foreign nationals involved in the scheme came from China and India.

Three Chinese university chiefs have been “named and shamed” for allegedly engaging in illicit acts of “hedonism and dishonesty”. The punishments – the latest example of the Chinese president’s offensive against corruption within the Communist party – were dished out to top officials at the Communication University of China, state media reported on Tuesday. It said two were sacked and another was disciplined.

One of the biggest Chinese illegal immigrant networks ever discovered in France was centred on a private business school based in the XVth arrondissement. This network made it possible to channel between 500 and 1000 Chinese immigrants into France annually, mostly young men between the ages of 20 and 25. Once in France, fake certificates attesting to their student status, report cards and diplomas allowed them to establish themselves permanently, without ever having to set foot in a classroom.

The recent confession to bribery by, the former admissions director for Renmin University, has called into question the integrity of the Chinese college admission system. The President has been mounting a campaign against corruption in China for more than three years, with higher education as one of the focal points. The ruling Communist Party’s antigraft agency has singled out 32 people working in higher education for investigations this year, with China’s education minister saying that corruption would not be tolerated in the education system.