- School has condemned agencies claiming they offer ‘guaranteed admissions’ and that have profited from ‘fabricating application materials’
- It launched a thorough investigation after it identified ‘a small number’ of cases involving suspected fake documents
University of Hong Kong has reported suspected fake student admissions to police following thorough investigation. Photo: Sam TsangThe business school of Hong Kong’s oldest university has reported suspected fraudulent student admissions to the police after conducting an internal investigation.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) warned students not to take risks to gain entry into top academic institutes through illegal means. The institution stressed that creating, using and possessing a false instrument were serious crimes.
“After internal investigations, the HKU business school has reported to police suspicious cases regarding the submission of fraudulent documents during the admission process,” the school said, giving no further details.
“According to the law, making, using and possessing a false instrument are serious crimes. We urge students and their parents to remain vigilant and abide by the law. It is not worth taking grave risks to gain entry into top academic institutes through illegal means.”
The school also denounced agencies claiming to offer “guaranteed admissions”, as well as “profiting from fabricating application materials”.
The incident involved postgraduate students, the SCMP has learned.
A police spokesman said the force had started investigating after receiving the reports. “No arrests have been made so far,” he said.
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Several screenshots posted on Xiaohongshu, mainland China’s Instagram-like social media platform, show the university telling some postgraduate business students the academic credentials submitted in their applications were not authentic.
The school also required students to present contracts signed by agencies that helped them prepare and submit the admission applications so that it could report them to police.
The incident came to light last Monday when a screenshot shared on Reddit-like forum LIHKG showed an online post written in simplified Chinese from someone who claimed to be graduating soon, saying the qualifications he submitted for the admission process had recently been checked again by the university.
The student claimed that an agency earlier guaranteed an admission offer from the university through the use of fabricated academic transcripts.
The school then said on Tuesday that it had launched a thorough investigation after it identified “a small number” of cases involving suspected fake documents and discovered that certain agencies, including those offering “guaranteed” admission, were involved in fabricating application materials.
According to the school’s website, tuition fees for a one-year master’s programme cost about HK$360,000 (US$46,100) to HK$462,000.
Some courses also stipulate that applicants are not generally required to undergo an admission interview and only need to upload the necessary supporting documents.