Search Page

Although Chinese students have been going to America to study for decades, their numbers have grown dramatically in the past few years. Many of them have only a basic knowledge of foreign universities and difficulty making sense of complicated applications. As a result, a huge industry of education agents has arisen in the country to help guide them — and, in some cases, to do whatever it takes to ensure that they are accepted.

Once comprehensively surveyed, the magnitude and reach of fraud is becoming clear. For example, research suggests that the majority of applications from a number of large student-sending countries are either significantly embellished or outright fraudulent. As a result, tens of thousands of international students, having passed through visa and admissions systems, are enrolled all over the world based on school transcripts, financial support statements, recommendation letters or test scores that are untrue.

Higher-education authorities in Britain, China, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States have sounded the alarm about the increase in incidents of attempted admissions fraud. Authorities say cases of fraud typically involve students from developing countries who are desperate to get degrees from universities in developed countries, including those in Western Europe and the United States. A handful of countries seem to have the most offenders, including China, Colombia, Iraq, Nigeria and several former Soviet republics, particularly Armenia.