www.hreonline.com, June 16, 2006

Faking It
By Mark McGraw, Staffing Columnist

As opportunities for U.S.–based businesses continue to abound in China, the struggles companies face in finding homegrown talent in that region have been well–documented, including here in Human Resource Executive®.

Now, adding to the problems plaguing this crucial market, comes a further complication, one that makes finding and choosing truly qualified employees even trickier: the increasing number of “diploma mills,” or unaccredited institutions that bestow false degrees and certifications upon “graduates” regardless of their abilities.

Consider, for example: a farmer from Anhui province who taught philosophy at a Nanjing university for six months before it was discovered his “master's degree” was worthless.

Or: Hu Changqing, a former deputy governor of Jiangxi province, who was executed for taking bribes. It was eventually revealed that Changqing, who claimed to hold two degrees--one in law--from Peking University, had simply purchased them near the school's campus.

While such “schools” are not a new phenomenon in China, they seem to be growing in number. The country's 2000 census indicated at least 600,000 more university graduates than the actual number of degrees awarded, according to Chinese media reports.

And, with a shortage of legitimate academic institutions to accommodate China's growing population, this bogus business may well continue to thrive, says Yogesh Bhura, managing director for South Asia for First Advantage, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based provider of risk mitigation and business applications.

Authenticating academic qualifications is a concern for business in any country. What makes the problem unique in China, Bhura says, is the country's largely paper-oriented verification process in most universities as well as companies.

Firms in the United States have access to comprehensive databases of accredited colleges and universities. Such databases don't exist in China, making it easier for would-be employees to falsify grades, provide forged diplomas or claim to have graduated from fake universities, Bhura says. In the more elaborate fakeries, call centers have even been set up to answer employers' calls and falsely verify a job candidate's credentials.

This issue has been troublesome for Chinese universities still trying to attain the status of schools in other, similarly developed countries, and has raised doubts among Western businesses and academic institutions as to the credibility of Chinese students and job candidates.

But, ultimately for employers, the growing number of diploma mills in China illustrates the myriad challenges in entering new markets, and moreover, underscores the need to make credential verification an integral part of hiring practices.