Students have been caught cheating their way into the University of Sydney using fake high school diplomas and English language tests, prompting the institution to consider stricter intake rules for Chinese nationals.
An internal report has revealed a surge in fraudulent admissions at the university in 2022, when more than 250 prospective or enrolled students were found to have provided fake applications, up from just 15 detections in 2021. There have been 64 cases detected so far in 2023.
The University of Sydney detected a surge in fraudulent admissions last year, stemming mostly from Chinese international students. Credit: Peter Braig
The rise in detected fraud was typically connected to Chinese residents or those of a Chinese background, according to the university report.
A substantial chunk of the cases was linked to a scam involving fake high school diplomas from the Canadian province of Ontario, the report said, while there was also an increase in fake English language tests detected.
The university may now reintroduce credential qualification checks conducted by the Chinese government’s Department of Education to safeguard against future scams.
While most of the fraudulent applications in 2022 and 2023 were detected before admission, one-fifth of the applicants were already enrolled when they were caught.
A spokeswoman for Sydney University said the surge in fraudulent applications was uncovered last year by the university following routine checks, leading to a ban on online Ontarian schools.
“Last year our admission and compliance teams identified a cluster of cases using fraudulent transcripts from a number of recently registered online private schools in the same geographical area, Ontario,” she said.
“We quickly moved to only accept students from onsite/in-person Ontarian schools that had gone through our robust verification processes, to ensure the integrity of our admissions.”
The University of NSW also confirmed it saw an increase in admission fraud in 2022 linked to the fake Canadian diplomas, but did not disclose the number detected.
“When UNSW detected the … risk last year, the university implemented a full review of all [Ontario secondary school diploma] applicants, pausing applications until a back-to-source check could be completed to assure the legitimacy of the qualification and applicant,” a spokeswoman said.
Sydney University sociologist Salvatore Babones said the scam involving Canadian private institutions was likely used to bypass English language test requirements, which are generally not required for international students who have a high school diploma from an English-speaking country.
“Our entry requirements for Chinese students are extremely low, so I doubt many would have to fake their results for academic purposes, it would be for English language reasons,” he said.
Sydney University said it stopped verifying Chinese qualifications in 2018 due to changes with China’s Academic Degrees and Graduation Education Development Center. However, the Chinese government can now verify credentials at a cost of about $60 per transcript.
The University of NSW.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The report said consideration would need to be given as to whether applicants or the university should bear that cost.
Higher education expert with Australian National University, Andrew Norton, said the general experience at Australian universities was that cheating among Chinese students was quite high.
“If they’re catching that many I’d hate to see how high the real number is,” he said.
“Ultimately, the real victims of this are legitimate students. If an employer gets wind of a pattern of students not being up to scratch it undermines the integrity of the degree.”
The cheating scheme comes at a time of growing concern over visa fraud linked to international students, largely from India.
A Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) spokesman said the watchdog was working with other government agencies to respond to fraudulent applications.
“TEQSA has raised concerns with higher education providers about the heightened risks of recruiting non-genuine students when accepting online English language tests to satisfy admission criteria,” he said.
Earlier this month, TEQSA’s chief commissioner wrote to all higher education providers outlining significant risks to compliance in the areas of recruitment, admission and support of overseas students.
A spokeswoman for the Ontario Ministry of Education said the government did not certify transcripts or diplomas issued by private schools as “true and correct”.
“The ministry recommends that universities that have concerns about the validity of a transcript or diploma working directly with the private or public school that issued the document to verify its authenticity and confirm the credits earned by the student,” she said.
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