

Fake degrees

A quick study

Bogus degrees from non-existent colleges cause headaches for employers

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Readers' comments




I worked as a manager in a Chinese education company in Hangzhou for one year in 2010-2011. I was one of the few westerners and only American manager in the company, so when HR had a question about a resume, they came looking for me. There were several problems I noticed that I assume are common throughout companies in China. First, the people in HR were young, spoke little English and almost none of them had studied abroad, thus they had almost no familiarity with American graduate (M.A./Ph.D) programs. This made it nearly impossible for them to distinguish a fake resume from a valid one. For example, we had a female Chinese applicant claim she received a Ph.D in history from the University of Texas. Having previously applied to Ph.D History programs in the U.S. I knew this was an utter impossibility. There was also an American candidate who stated that he received two Ph.Ds from Stanford in 4 years. Both of these resumes passed through HR before I saw them, even though it should have been obvious both were fake.

Another thing I noticed was that HR seemed to forward me the resumes with the highest degrees, which meant that lying on your resume really did pay off. The honest people who only had a B.A. or M.A. and listed that on their resume were less likely to be interviewed than those who lied and claimed to have a Ph.D.

Finally, I noticed some people in management simply didn't care if the people working below them had fake degrees. The prestige of having someone with a Ph.D work for you was more important than actually having a real degree. And what many managers valued most was that a worker was pliant and that they could install someone in a position to take the fall if a program failed. Managers eagerly took credit for anything positive their underlings produced and cowered from taking blame for anything. This was because everyone understood someone was going to get fired if a certain program failed to meet their targets in recruiting students. Besides, deception was a central part of the business model as the marketing department openly lied about programs to parents and students. Having a fake resume just didn’t seem that out of place in such an environment.

In the long run

Totally shameless. But just wait, the Chinese posters are going to pile in here soon and throw a fit, "Everybody does it. Why single out the Chinese?"

Any minute now...

Everybody doesn't do it. And even if everybody does, when will the Chinese step up and lead the world in class and integrity for a change?


I hope one day ppl will value real education, instead of just the degree.
Degree is to please your employer, and probably give you a higher starting salary. But education is what give you knowledge, the know-how, and be a better person. And education doesn't stop in college also.
As a Chinese, I hope one day Chinese will not just pursue things superficial, fast, and short, but also something deep, and meaningful....
My wishful thinking :)

Simon Hibbs in reply to bioberliner

It is the job of a free press to be critical. Their job is to find problems and raise awareness of them, so that the people become aware of these issues and popular pressure can be mobilised to ensure that these problems get fixed.
That is what a free press is for. What use is journalism that doesn't do that?

Connect The Dots

Scarecrow: ThD?
Wizard of Oz: That's... Doctor of Thinkology. .
....Yes, Scarecrow had a Phony Diploma Mill Phd. Degree. But no one would hire him otherwise.

I have seen many cases in my country India, wherein candidates produce fake or exaggerated work experience for searching or switching jobs. So the Chinese are not alone to fake degrees or work experiences. Blame squarely falls on the HR guys who conduct interviews or the technical panel who fail to detect a fake work experience.

Ranjith Menon

For the proliferation of fake degrees, where should the buck stop?

It stops at the employer. If the employer is more interested in skills and aptitude for a particular job, he/she should filter out incompetent job aspirants through aptitude and competency tests.

But if the criterion for employment is the length of degrees in a CV, neither the sellers or buyers of fake degrees can be blamed, but only the ultimate buyer of spurious talent- the employer

Connect The Dots

Phony degrees from non existent universities or phony degrees from real instituitons:
There is simple solution in the Information Age: An official Web Clearing House of all REAL degrees and list of alumni by a consortium of established and known universities.
I propose it be named www verifydegree.edu
And it will be a way of establishing and maintaining a valuable degree in a sea of fakes. It is important to graduates, universities and employers. A simple way of cross verifying info in seconds. It is win-win.
....This is a great internet business opportunity.


It is not only degrees.

I have heard of someone who graduated early this year with a real degree. A years practical experience is required for most jobs but he wanted to take a year off. So he is paying a company to give him a year of fake work experience. He started (not) working last week.



So true. problem is thats happening in America too!

A degree only helps you land a job. I have my job because i have an economics degree, but my responsibilities include copying and pasting, mailing, and excel work. I could have started doing this in 8th grade (you graduate highschool at 12th grade for you non "Americans") if people would have only informed me and given me the chance, but nooooo. I could have had saved up enough to own an apartment, car, or anythign else i wanted by now.

Universities degrees are oversold because management uses the lack of a degree as an excuse to underpay employees and because we have a "religion" of getting a university degree.

Its a prisoners dilemma. We all be better off without university degrees (in theie current form), but we are told to deviate and get expensive degrees because other people will get them to outcompete you.


Mr Xiong's observations:

“Chinese people pay more attention to having a diploma than they do to having a real education,” ... “A diploma is worth actual money, whereas an education is not.”

Are equally true of Americans, and probably Europeans, too.


So when I graduated from Nanchang Hangkong University(NHU),I came to the Human Resourse Market(HRM) in nanchang.
A HR look at me,said:"where are you graduated?"
I answered,"NHU."
He said,"that's great,can you work tomorrow?"
I was a lillte comfused,why people keep saying that work is hard to find in China?
He go on and said,"800 yuan (150 US dollar) a month in internship period,and that's three months."
"how about the salary in formal working period ?"
"I'm very value you,so..."
I got excited.
"1500 yuan(300US dollar)a month,that' not a small number."
"your sister!"


As long as a diploma or any other certificates is still more respected than practical working ability and the strict restriction on entering universities still exits, this situation will remain continue. State-owned companies and public section are the main destination of those who try to buy a certificate to satisfy initial requirement, meanwhile the working performance is not assessed properly.

L Gordon

This is a vast improvement over the current system of producing fake research to get "real" PhDs, since under this paradigm the scientific community isn't wasting its time trying to validate fraudulent research and science itself can remain somewhat "pure."

Alex the LION

it seems you know a lot about china.what you said is true, I have to admit。 what i want to say is please distinguish Chinese GOV and the people. Most of them are ordinary farmers，actually peasants。hard work through out their life time, however most can not afford medical care， they even sell their blood！
they do not live a life ,but struggle a life.
中国我爱你 请你睁眼看看你的人民！

morris yao

What the Chinese students need is just a chance to get the job.Lots of the jobs don't need the very professinal skill,everyone can do it.But you need a diploma to pass the recruitment interview.

Joe, not a plumber

This story should truly diminish the numbers of nay-sayers who claim that China has not caught up with the United States. The Chinese can now claim have now developed their fraud to point where it is strictly a American specialty. Congratulations China!


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