China has intensified its scrutiny of degrees from lower-ranked universities abroad as part of an effort to curb academic shortcuts commonly used to advance careers.
The Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), under the Ministry of Education, recently announced that 13 universities in the Philippines, Mongolia, and India would face more stringent verification processes for master’s and PhD degrees. The CSCSE is responsible for certifying foreign academic qualifications, which are often utilized by Chinese students to gain an advantage in the competitive domestic job market, apply for further education, or secure household registration (hukou) in major cities.
While the standard verification process typically takes 10 to 20 working days, the CSCSE stated that it would now require at least 60 days to evaluate degrees from these institutions, due to “significant anomalies” discovered in the application data for master’s and doctoral degrees.
Among the universities identified by the CSCSE, six are in the Philippines, five in Mongolia, and two in India. According to the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2024, all but one of these 13 institutions either ranked below 1,500 or were not listed at all.
In recent years, many Chinese students have turned to non-elite universities in Western and developing countries, which often have no entrance exams, to upgrade their skills cost-effectively in order to compete in increasingly challenging job markets. However, concerns have been raised about the quality of the degrees and career development programs offered by such institutions.
By the end of 2022, it was estimated that nearly 100,000 Chinese students were studying in Southeast Asia, with numbers continuing to rise, according to the 2022 White Book for Chinese Students of Overseas Education, published by EIC Education.
One 38-year-old Chinese woman shared that she had enrolled in a distance learning master’s program from a university in Manila because it required no entrance exams and allowed her to continue working while studying. She explained that she needed the qualification to improve her job security, stating, “I have the lowest level of education in my company, putting me at high risk of being fired.”
Some students currently enrolled in the affected universities have already been informed of the new verification requirements.
