Chapter 26 Chapter 24 Revealing the Interest Chain of Officials’ Academic Fraudulence

Falsification of official academic qualifications is rampant, which not only damages the academic atmosphere of colleges and universities, encourages the trend of official fraud, but also shakes the foundation of social fairness and credit. Junior college, bachelor's degree, master's degree, doctor's degree... In recent years, China's political circles have set off an upsurge of pursuing degrees. Undoubtedly, it is worth encouraging and advocating that officials pay attention to the improvement of theoretical quality and knowledge renewal, and work hard to obtain higher degrees on the job.However, the reporter's investigation found that there are also many officials who do not usually study, but do everything possible to use their power and public funds to "collude" with some higher education institutions and complete the task of "knowledgeization" in a "Great Leap Forward" in a short period of time.

Relevant experts pointed out that fraudulent academic qualifications by officials is an out-and-out corrupt behavior, which not only damages the academic atmosphere of colleges and universities, encourages the trend of fraudulent officials, but also shakes the fairness and credit foundation of the whole society, which should arouse the attention of relevant departments. Pay attention to. It is understood that after entering the 1990s, in order to promote the rejuvenation, knowledge, and professionalization of cadres, the central government further raised the academic requirements for leading cadres, and there were clear regulations.

In February 1995, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the "Interim Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres" stipulating: "Those who are promoted to the leadership positions of the party and government should generally have a college degree or above. Among them, leading cadres at the provincial (ministry) level should generally Possess a bachelor's degree or above." In January 2006, the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Construction of County (City, District, Banner) Party and Government Official Teams", which stipulated that "the county party and government official team should be mainly about 45 years old, and generally should have Bachelor's degree or above."

Although the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasizes the prevention of "one size fits all" in terms of age and education, the reporter's investigation found that this has been out of shape in the actual operation of some local organization departments.As a result, academic qualifications have not only become a capital for some officials to show off, but also a "stepping stone" for their promotion and appointment, which has also promoted the enthusiasm of officials to pursue higher education. "I am usually busy with government affairs, so it is impossible to spare more time to study." A friend who is the deputy magistrate of a certain county in Hunan complained to the reporter, "No matter how much political achievements you have, if you want to get promoted, you still need a higher education. Considering the hardware, no matter how busy you are, you have to find a degree.”

"I used to be the secretary in the town, and some people who were not as outstanding as me went to work in the county, but it was not my turn. Isn't it because I am a junior college student?" The friend told his story with emotion. Experience, "Later, I applied to the Party School of the Provincial Party Committee, got a bachelor's degree within a few visits, and was promoted to a deputy county-level cadre in the second year as I wished. I also know that the diploma is fake, so there is no way." During the investigation, the reporter found that there are not a few people who have had similar experiences with this official.For this reason, some officials, on the one hand, do not have the corresponding academic qualifications, and on the other hand, want to further develop and obtain higher positions, so they start to try to use their power and public funds to obtain academic qualifications.

"The way some officials mix their diplomas is really strange." The person in charge of a graduate school of a university in Beijing told the reporter, "Under normal circumstances, officials will appear in person when registering, taking exams, and completing courses. Usually, the class is basically replaced by a secretary, and even Sometimes there will be funny scenes where the secretary fills the classroom." "I graduated from Fudan University and worked as a secretary for the leader. After less than a year of work, I was transferred to the Beijing Office. My usual job is to go to school for the leader, complete homework, and be responsible for building a good relationship with the tutor. At the end of the semester, the leader When I come to the exam, it is basically an open-book exam, and the exam questions are also very simple. The usual score accounts for 80%, and the exam accounts for 20%. A staff member of the Beijing Office revealed mysteriously to the reporter, "I will return to my original unit as soon as the leader gets his degree. The performance in Beijing in the past two years is crucial to my future development."

"It is an open secret in society that officials ask their secretaries to take classes for them in order to obtain diplomas, and bribe their tutors and schools to fool them with public funds." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University, analyzed in an interview with reporters that, At present, there are two cases of falsification of official diplomas: one is "fake real diplomas", that is, the diplomas are "filled with water", without corresponding academic experience and knowledge content; the other is "real and fake diplomas", that is, fake certificates.Generally speaking, officials, big or small, have the conditions to obtain "fake real diplomas" due to their certain resource advantages.Besides, the use of "fake diplomas" is not easy to be seen through, and the risk is much smaller than that of using "real diplomas".

Due to the strict requirements of the central ministries and commissions, the problem of falsification of academic qualifications is relatively more serious in the localities.The fact is that many local officials have obtained "fake real diplomas" through various channels.In some poverty-stricken areas in the west, as long as you pay a little attention, it is not difficult to find "talented people". From the secretary of the county party committee, county head, deputy county head, and even the head of the town, the head of the township, and the director of the police station, most of the business cards are printed with "economic "Master of Science", "Master of Laws" and other titles.

According to relevant data, as of the end of 2006, the National Higher Education Student Information Consultation and Employment Guidance Center had accepted nearly 110,000 higher education degree certifications from all walks of life, of which 9.9% were "problem degree".According to reports, a few days ago Guangdong Province appraised the academic certificates of 15 officials sent by a certain city in the Chaoshan area, and it was confirmed that 7 of them were fake certificates just by naked eyes... Hu Changqing, the former vice-governor of Jiangxi Province who was sentenced to death for corruption a few years ago, is a typical example of officials who falsify their academic qualifications.He entrusted someone to buy a bachelor's degree in law near Peking University, and began to call himself a "Peking University genius", and even called himself a "professor of law".

In addition, Ma Xiangdong, the former deputy mayor of Shenyang City, also obtained a postgraduate degree "justifiably" during his tenure.But those in the know know that the thesis he wrote during his studies at the Central Party School was also done by a "writing team" composed of secretaries. So, the problem of falsification of academic qualifications by officials has been around for a long time, why is it still banned repeatedly? Relevant experts generally believe that quite a few regions blindly pursue high education levels in the selection of officials, and some even use education level as a barrier.In addition, there is a huge chain of interests between officials and educational institutions, which also provides officials with the possibility of falsifying their academic qualifications.

"As long as academic qualifications become an important capital for promotion, officials will have the motivation to cheat." A local official in Hunan Province who knows the inside story told reporters, "Using public funds to obtain a diploma will make it easier to obtain a high-ranking government job. Who wouldn’t want to get a high salary and have more chances of wealth and success than others?” The reuse of "knowledge-based" officials is a manifestation of society's respect for knowledge and talents.However, the reporter found that some places often equate education with ability, and equate high education with high quality and high ability, and even select a large number of doctors to enter the leadership, forming the so-called "doctoral corps". This one-sided "worship of academic qualifications" has to a certain extent caused the "fierce pursuit" of academic qualifications by officials.And the cost for officials to spend another few years entering a school is undoubtedly too high. If there is no restraint mechanism and supervision mechanism, these officials can easily use their power and resources to obtain high degrees in improper and illegal ways. The frightening thing is that some colleges and universities, seeing their profits, have also offered various "crash courses for diplomas" for officials.For example, some provinces often carry out provincial-school cooperation programs with some famous schools, and the provinces give the schools a sum of money to train cadres at or above the county level.This situation is very hidden, and no matter how hard the crackdown on "fake diplomas" is, it will be difficult to cover it here. "Nowadays, the academic qualifications required for the promotion of many local officials are basically solved by taking postgraduate courses. The state stipulates that postgraduate courses cannot be linked to degrees and cannot be awarded. However, some colleges and universities link postgraduate courses to degrees in order to generate income. , to attract students by conferring degrees.” According to a person in charge of postgraduate admissions who has worked in a university in Beijing for many years, “those who offer such classes are generally formal universities, and the cost is generally between 20,000 and 30,000 yuan. One or two years, which is too different from the normal postgraduate education system. After a few years, the school’s income is quite considerable, and some universities do not issue invoices printed by the tax bureau to students. After these huge tuition fees are tax evaded, they become employees of the unit generous rewards." In fact, there are many cases of colleges and universities that issue diplomas indiscriminately for money. In 2004, several leaders of the Party School in Hainan Province were "double-regulated" at the same time.Behind this series of cadres' handling of the facts is the shocking "wholesale" case of diplomas-until the incident, the Hainan Provincial Party School, which undertakes serious training of party and government cadres, only needs to pay money, and the admission conditions have been relaxed again and again, until 2003 It was suspended at the end of the year, and thousands of diplomas have been issued in violation of laws and regulations. "The local government pays some universities to run postgraduate courses. There is no exam at all, and students don't have to worry about tuition fees. It's all settled by public funds." An official who once participated in the "study" of postgraduate courses revealed to reporters, "From the time the textbooks are issued to You don’t even have to look at them when you graduate, as long as you take good care of your tutor, you will pass the exam. Some officials do their homework and write their papers. Doctoral or master’s tutors hire full-time graduate students to do it for them, and some even have their tutors do it for them.” It is understood that there are too many postgraduate courses now, and some officials who care about their face also hope to pass formal examinations to study in graduate school.However, these officials have a lot of "tricks" in taking the postgraduate entrance examination, and there are many ways to cheat. Some actually take the separate exams outside the school, and then use it to make up for the students in the school.In the entrance examination, some of them either nominally applied for the unified admissions examination, or cheated in the examination, or even obtained the admission qualification without taking the examination at all. "The 'operation' before the postgraduate entrance examination or the doctoral examination is very critical. Generally, they will use various relationships to meet with the tutor privately to 'manipulate', and do everything possible to obtain the exam information. As long as the tutor's 'communication' here is good, there is basically no problem in the exam." That's what a secretary who once headed the "operating" relationship told reporters. During the interview, the reporter found that some colleges and teachers also felt extremely helpless when dealing with officials asking for diplomas and mixed diplomas. "When it comes to enrolling students, there are so many people saying hello. Among them are some directors and bureau chiefs of powerful ministries and agencies. It is against conscience to help with diplomas. If you don't get them, you can't afford to offend them." The leader of a certain university in Beijing is in charge of admissions. He told the reporter, “Some special students are usually the heads of the departments in charge of scientific research funds, projects, and planning indicators. The school needs the support of these departments in all aspects. These people basically get a diploma when they enroll, and their diplomas are quite watery. To be honest, there’s always been a deal-making feel to handing out diplomas to these guys.” "Of course, there are also many colleges and universities willing to recruit powerful senior officials as graduate students." A teacher from a college in Beijing explained the whole story, "By recruiting senior officials to study as graduate students, not only will you have more opportunities to apply for projects or do other things in the future, but you can also This enhances the reputation of the school. Many colleges and universities often like to mention that a certain senior official is an alumni when they publicize to the outside world." When journalists interview some colleges and universities in Beijing, they often see photos and resumes of high-ranking officials who used to be students of the school and hold important positions in government departments are pasted in prominent places in the publicity windows of some schools, as a part of the school’s publicity. display of glory. In recent years, relevant departments in our country have not reduced the punishment for fraudulent diplomas of officials. In October 2004, four ministries and commissions, including the Organization Department of the Central Committee, found that among the 670,000 cadres above the county level and above, one out of every 40 had a questionable diploma. "This storm of investigation once stopped the fraud of official diplomas, but it revived after a short time. Relevant departments should establish a long-term mechanism to combat the fraud of official diplomas." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government and Administration of Peking University, was interviewed by reporters when said. In fact, the falsification of academic qualifications by officials is not unique to China. It is a relatively common phenomenon in global political circles.With the Portuguese Prime Minister being accused of "falsified diplomas" and South Korean celebrities frequently caught in the "degree gate" incident, the issue of official academic qualifications has once again attracted the attention of the Chinese public, and more and more people have begun to notice the serious harm of domestic officials' academic qualifications. . First of all, it will damage the image of the party, corrupt the social atmosphere, and damage the image of leading cadres.A staff member in Beijing who has been engaged in cadre selection and cadre education for many years believes that the falsification of official academic qualifications seems to be a problem of academic style, but in fact it is a problem of party style. If every official hopes to use such false packaging to get promotion in his position, It will surely tarnish the reputation of officials, damage the image of the party, and affect the party style and social atmosphere. "Officials have a special status. As public figures, their academic qualifications are also an important indicator of the country's credibility." Li Chengyan believes that "officials use fake academic qualifications to obtain high-level jobs and high salaries in the government and enterprises. In terms of distributing social wealth and obtaining social opportunities, it is inevitable It will damage the basic principles of fairness in society, and even damage the credibility of society and the country." "If officials who falsify their academic qualifications are not punished as they should be, and continue to hold public office or even get promoted, it will be difficult to have a clean and honest political scene." A retired official in Beijing said, "The falsification of an official's academic qualifications is a matter of the quality of the officials. To put it more seriously, it means that fake officials are deceiving the people and ruining the social atmosphere. For an official, if he dares to fake his academic qualifications, he will inevitably cheat his political achievements and become corrupt in his official career.” Second, defile the pure land of institutions of higher learning.As the source of social morality, education should be a piece of pure land, which is of great significance for correcting social atmosphere and improving social civilization.However, falsification of academic qualifications by officials will inevitably lead to the devaluation of diplomas and academic qualifications, the reduction of educational quality and academic standards, the collapse of teaching and learning styles, and the decline of educational credibility, which will not only damage education and academics, but also endanger the healthy development of society. "Falsification of academic qualifications by officials is a blasphemy to education, and it is also a serious damage to the reputation of national academic degree education." Relevant experts believe that "if colleges and universities issue diplomas indiscriminately, if every employer has to come to the school to check the diplomas, the school's Credibility will be greatly reduced." Third, it induces a credit crisis of academic qualifications and degrees, undermining the principle of fairness and justice. "If an official spends money to buy a fake diploma and put it in his personal file, it will be difficult to distinguish it from the real diploma, which will cause confusion in the use and management of talents in the whole society." Professor Li Mingwei of Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology believes that "official diplomas obtained by fraudulent It is unfair to others. At the same time, the falsification of official diplomas seriously damages the party style. This kind of falsification is bound to echo the social atmosphere, leading to the prevalence of social diploma falsification, which hurts the fairness and legitimacy of the social evaluation standard of academic qualifications. .” During the interviews, many experts believed that falsification of academic qualifications by officials is an out-and-out corrupt behavior, and if it is not managed, it will cause endless harm. "The practice of emphasizing academic qualifications in the selection of cadres is very correct. This is a good trend. The problem lies in some people taking advantage of loopholes, not the practice itself." Professor Mao Shoulong, director of the Department of Administration and Management at Renmin University of China, believes that "cadre management and The selection must start with the construction of the system. We must have a correct understanding of the diploma, and its greatest value lies in the starting standard. That is to say, people with a high degree of education should have a good job or high pay. However, in the future assessment, they should Pay more attention to his ability." "Most of the cases of falsification of official academic qualifications that have been detected now are incidental to the official's other mistakes. From a certain perspective, we should also pay more attention to this issue." Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm Lawyer Du Liyuan gave three suggestions in an interview with reporters: First, establish a sound supervision and restriction mechanism.Establish a reporting reward system to accept public supervision.In addition, the enrollment of higher education institutions is regularly and thoroughly cleaned up, and teaching, examination and degree awarding are carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of the syllabus.Second, establish a sound punishment system for fake diplomas.Organization, personnel, discipline inspection, supervision, education and other departments have formed a linkage mechanism, and promptly deal with the phenomenon of using public funds to obtain academic qualifications after receiving reports.Third, establish a correct view of academic qualifications.In the selection and appointment of cadres, it is necessary to comprehensively and objectively evaluate comprehensively and objectively in combination with items such as "virtue, ability, diligence and performance", and emphasize education but not only education.The further ability of officials to work is not reflected in whether they have obtained any higher education, but in whether they have new achievements in their work. “Relevant departments should establish a system for reporting and approving officials’ on-the-job studies, and strictly review their tuition expenditure and learning status.” An official in Beijing, who did not want to be named, believes that “officials who want to study for a degree on the job must report to their superiors. Organize departments to approve and record, and track the entire learning situation. At the same time, officials who are to be promoted should strictly check the authenticity of their academic qualifications.” "It is very necessary to encourage in-service cadres to participate in the study, but we must prevent 'power-study trading' from the system." Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, believed in an interview with reporters that the "public announcement system" is a way to solve this problem.For individuals who want to study for a higher degree, the organization department should conduct a screening like promoting cadres, mainly based on work performance to see if there is a future for training. This selection should be open, and there should be a proportion of people voting. Once selected, it must be publicized, and the parties must first resign from their current positions and pay part of the fees personally.The change of the official’s academic qualifications should also be publicized. The school, major, length of study, learning method, and certifier of the official’s academic qualifications change should be posted in the official’s unit by posting an announcement, and a special reporting hotline will be set up to accept public complaints. and supervision of public opinion.If it is said that private transactions are a mode of operation of corruption, then the public announcement system will increase the pressure and cost of corruption, thereby reducing the occurrence of corruption. It is understood that foreign countries also have a lot of advanced experience to learn from in punishing officials who falsify their academic qualifications.The U.S. Congress, for example, is considering legislation that would formally criminalize the falsification of diplomas.In South Korea, holders of fake diplomas are subject to criminal prosecution.The country's "Electoral Law" also clearly stipulates that politicians who forge or fabricate their academic qualifications will be disqualified from being elected and sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of up to 5 years.In Germany, people who hold fake diplomas will be dealt with as a crime of fraud and imposed a fine of more than 1,000 euros.In Canada, a "zero-tolerance" attitude is adopted towards fraudulent diplomas, not only to impose legal sanctions on counterfeiters, but also to hold accountable those who purchase fake diplomas. During the interview, the interviewees generally believed that in order to prevent officials from falsifying academic qualifications, while colleges and universities improve the degree-granting system, the whole society, especially the personnel departments of organizations, should also establish a scientific view of academic qualifications.In addition, legislation should be used to increase penalties for manufacturers, sellers and users of fake academic degrees.