This "wild chicken university" is here again, ten years later, Hebei Dongya University | website | wild chicken university
"Wild chicken universities" usually use tactics such as false advertising, forging enrollment qualifications, forging enrollment promotional materials, and falsely claiming that the country recognizes academic qualifications to deceive candidates. During the college entrance examination enrollment season, "fake universities" are constantly being pursued, and some "fake universities" have even been exposed 10 years ago.
It is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of the "Clone Official Website"
On the eve of the 2022 college entrance examination, a school called Henan Communication University announced its enrollment through its website. The webpage settings of this website are highly similar to the official website of an art college in Guangxi. Through the official website of the Ministry of Education, it was found that neither the national list of ordinary higher education institutions nor the national list of adult higher education institutions has "Henan Communication University".
Recently, a journalist from Half Moon Talk discovered that an online institution called "Hebei Normal College" continuously publishes information on its education, research, and enrollment through its website. Its website is highly similar to the official website of a regular university in terms of interface form and specific content, with only a difference of two words in the school name.
Half Moon Talk reporter clicks on the "Enrollment Information" column above the "Clone Official Website" and directly redirects to another enrollment website. The enrollment brochure, enrollment regulations, enrollment plans for different majors, tuition fees, and other false enrollment information of "Hebei Normal University" are all available.
In the "Enrollment Regulations" column, a clear distinction has been made between "unified enrollment" and "individual enrollment" in accordance with relevant regulations; It has also achieved the goal of releasing enrollment plans and solicitation plans separately at different time periods, which are very similar to the enrollment process of regular universities, making it difficult for candidates to distinguish. Through the official website of the Ministry of Education, it was found that neither the national list of ordinary higher education institutions nor the national list of adult higher education institutions have "Hebei Normal College".
False enrollment difficult to investigate and deal with
In recent years, relevant departments have continued to increase efforts to crack down on enrollment fraud and crack down on "wild chicken universities" carrying out illegal and irregular enrollment actions. However, during the annual college entrance examination enrollment stage, some illegal organizations and individuals still attempt to take advantage of loopholes.
In 2013, the media exposed the false enrollment behavior of Hebei Dongya University. On May 23rd of this year, an organization updated the enrollment advertisement for "Hebei Dongya University" on a recruitment information website called "Worry Free Self study Examination Network".
On May 23, 2023, a website updated information related to "Hebei Dongya University"
From this enrollment information, it can be seen that "Hebei Dongya University" has a comprehensive history and development, teaching staff, distinctive majors, discipline construction, international exchanges and cooperation, and social services. The advertisement claims that the school is a "higher education institution" and a "comprehensive university", and also states that the school "has a high-quality teaching team", "has established friendly cooperative relationships with multiple foreign universities", and has been widely recognized by society.
Coincidentally, a website called "National Self study Textbook Network" also updated the information of "Hebei Dongya University" on May 20th this year. Compared with the enrollment advertisement mentioned above, this information is more official and confusing. It not only includes information on the school building area, teaching facilities, collection of books, and total value of scientific research equipment, but also includes the school motto, educational purpose, century old school history, and development strategy. The institution has even been labeled as "approved by the Hebei Education Commission", "registered and established by the Ministry of Education", and "11 key universities in Hebei".
Upon consulting different websites, it was found that the institution's "educational address" has been repeatedly modified, with some labeled as "323 Hongqi Street, Shijiazhuang" and others displaying "the school is located in Fengrun District, Tangshan City".
Improve the monitoring of harmful information in college enrollment
Experts say that "fake universities" forge or counterfeit websites through "cheating" methods, and the cost of producing false admission notices is lower. If a fake website is shut down, it can be "restarted" and it is difficult to thoroughly investigate, which also reflects that there are still loopholes in the supervision of relevant departments at present.
According to the police, according to the relevant case jurisdiction provisions, the location of the victim, the place where the crime was committed, and the registered residence of the suspect have jurisdiction. In real work, cases of enrollment fraud are often handled and reported by the public security organs in the victim's location. Due to limitations in the location, manpower, resources, and other factors of the authorities, there may be situations where multiple members of the same criminal gang are registered and not investigated.
In response to such phenomena, experts suggest that the education department establish and improve a system for monitoring harmful information in university enrollment networks. Once suspected fraudulent information in enrollment is discovered, it should be immediately verified and reported to the public security organs for processing. The public security organs should incorporate enrollment fraud into the regular crackdown track and increase the punishment for related behaviors.
