US
'Elites' accused of fabricating collegedegrees
By Chen Jia china daily
Updated: 2010-07-12 00:00
Comments(0)PrintMailLargeMediumSmallBEIJING— The resumes of about 100 Chinese “elites” have been revised on HudongWiki, a pilot Chinese-language encyclopedia website, after the formerpresident of Microsoft China, Tang Jun, was accused of fabricating hisacademic credentials.
“The information about Tang has been changedthree times on our website,” Beijing News quoted Wu Yanpeng,vice-president of Hudong Wiki, as saying on Saturday.
The statement that “Tang got a doctoraldegree from the California Institute of Technology (CIT)” has beendeleted, Wu said.
“As for other elites whose data wasrewritten on Hudong Wiki, the revisions are mostly about theireducational backgrounds and degrees, which have recently becomesensitive topics,” he said.
However, whether the data was revised by theelites themselves or someone else remains unclear, as Hudong Wikiallows for the free editing of its pages by registered users.
An insider at a public relations companysaid it is highly possible that these revisions were made by publicrelations companies.
Since the beginning of this month, FangZhouzi, who is known as a “science cop” for battling againstpseudo-science and academic misconduct, has been accusing Tang offabricating a doctoral degree from CIT.
Tang clarified the matter on July 6 bysaying that he had never claimed to have graduated from CIT and that hehad received his doctorate from California-based Pacific WesternUniversity.
But Fang soon pointed out that the firstversion of Tang’s autobiography, My Success Could Be Duplicated, makesthose claims and he uploaded the scanned pages onto his blog.
Fang also said Pacific Western University isa “fake and problematic university” that sold credentials.
A report on the website of the US GovernmentAccountability Office shows that Tang’s alma mater was once sued forselling degrees: $2,295 for a bachelor’s degree, $2,395 for a master’sand $2,595 for a doctorate.
Caixin magazine on Wednesday even madepublic a list of some Chinese who graduated from Pacific WesternUniversity.
The list shows that a number of the Chinese“elite” received Doctor of Business Administration degrees from the sameinstitution, including officials, executives, lawyers and judges.
However, Ye Jun, manager of Beijing ZhaorunInvestment Company, who also got a PhD from Pacific Western University,told Caixin that he was awarded his diploma after attending two years ofclasses at Peking University.
He said the teachers were foreignprofessors, though most classes and dissertation defenses were held inBeijing.
He paid 50,000 yuan ($7,350) to an agencyfor his diploma seven years ago. The agency has since been closed.
However, the international cooperationdepartment at Peking University denied it had any affiliation withPacific Western University, according to a report by the Chengdu EveningNews on Sunday.
