"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. In fact, I can go to the’ 211′ university in 200 points." 360 Education Group launched a group of "sorry" marketing advertisements, which made the entrance examination for overseas Chinese students in "bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her" shine for a while. This is like a "life-saving straw" in the eyes of Ms. Song, a non-Beijing junior high school parent.
"Go back to my hometown in Shandong to attend high school? As far as my son’s grades are concerned, I can only wander in the junior college. Staying in Beijing means that you cannot take the college entrance examination. " Ms. Song inquired about overseas Chinese joint examination training institutions in Beijing. When she came to Beijing Sanyi Shuren Education Office, several non-Beijing parents were waiting here, and they were all attracted by the agency’s advertisement of "100% copy rate".
The person in charge of this institution revealed to parents that the entrance examination for overseas Chinese, students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Province jointly recruited by ordinary colleges and universities in China (referred to as National Joint Recruitment) is a "shortcut to prestigious schools". He sent a publicity page to every parent, which was filled with the admission scores of "985" colleges and universities in recent years, which was astounding. The admission score of a "985" college in Jilin Province was only 400 points. Training institutions simply refer to the national joint entrance examination as the joint entrance examination for overseas Chinese students.
The person in charge "pointed out" that if non-Beijing parents want to let their children take the entrance examination for overseas Chinese students, they should apply for the Philippine green card or Malaysia’s second home plan, and then let their children obtain overseas Chinese status and stay abroad for two years, "exporting to domestic sales". When they sit in the entrance examination room for overseas Chinese students, the "indigenous people" will become "overseas Chinese students".
270,000 yuan, "indigenous" turned into "overseas Chinese students"
"Identity is more important than hard work!" Ms. Song visited several overseas Chinese students’ joint entrance examination training institutions in Beijing, and found that China’s "Wolf Dad" became the most successful case for parents. "Three children of" Wolf Dad "Xiao Baiyou were admitted to Peking University, relying not only on stick education, but also on overseas Chinese students’ joint entrance examination".
However, what puzzled reporters was that although these institutions exploited policy loopholes, they acted boldly and openly, not only advertising on media platforms, but also organizing public publicity activities.
The reporter entered the keyword of overseas Chinese entrance examination in a search engine and found about 1.89 million related results, most of which were advertisements of overseas Chinese students’ entrance examination training institutions. After opening these webpages, advertisements such as "Overseas Chinese Joint Entrance Examination, Direct Access to’ 985′ and’ 211′ Universities" and "Meet Peking University, Tsinghua and other top domestic universities" flooded the screen. Most institutions are headquartered in Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Shenzhen and other places. In the name of parents, the reporter made unannounced visits to Beijing Sanyi Shuren Education, Shanghai Xinye Education, Xiamen Qiaoan Education and Shenzhen Yuanmeng Education.
In 2017, the qualification for the national joint recruitment clearly stipulates that overseas Chinese candidates must have obtained long-term or permanent residency in foreign countries, and have actually lived abroad for more than 2 years in the last 4 years (as of the end of the registration time) (living abroad for 9 months in a year is counted as one year, and continuous residence is not required).
The reporter was told that if children want to take the joint entrance examination for overseas Chinese students, they must first obtain long-term or permanent residency in foreign countries. The Philippine Special Residence Retirement Visa and the Malaysian Second Home Program are "springboard" for domestic students to "transform" into overseas Chinese students because of their convenient operation and low cost. In particular, the Philippine special residence retirement visa is fast and secure, and it is regarded as the "first choice" by Xiamen Qiaoan Education and other three institutions.
Shenzhen Dream Education staff introduced the whole process of "indigenous" becoming overseas Chinese students and taking the joint entrance examination. The first step is to attend a five-month preparatory class for overseas Chinese students in Shenzhen from August to January each year, focusing on English. The second step, from January to March every year, go through the immigration visa formalities, apply for a foreign international high school student status, and go to an international high school in Manila, Philippines. The third step is to study in an international high school and train in a special joint entrance examination course for more than 18 to 20 months. The fourth step is to return to the Shenzhen training base and participate in the 7-month pre-test training. The fifth step is to assist students to apply for the exam, guide them to fill in their volunteers, and provide psychological counseling before the exam, and accompany them to participate in the national entrance examination for overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
She said that at present, each student charges 276,000 yuan, mainly including 36,000 yuan for overseas Chinese students’ preparatory class training; 58,000 yuan for overseas Chinese students, mainly including immigration handling fees, consulting fees and registration fees for Philippine international middle schools; 146,000 yuan for studying in the Philippines, including tuition fees and special joint entrance examination training fees during attending international high schools in the designated campus in Manila; 36,000 yuan for training before returning to China.
The reporter inquired about four overseas Chinese students’ joint entrance examination training institutions in succession, with the costs ranging from 320,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan. The number of applicants for each institution ranges from 6 to nearly 100, and the number of applicants is increasing year by year.
"Our biggest advantage is that we have our own teaching base in Ipoh, the capital of Perak, Malaysia." The person in charge of Beijing Sanyi Shuren said that the base is a Chinese middle school invested and established by the institution. Domestic students organize classes independently here, and the teachers are also "experienced college entrance examination tutors in China". Because there is no separate textbook for the National Joint Recruitment, the teaching of this school is based on "People’s Education Edition textbooks, real questions and our own textbooks".
During the unannounced visit, the reporter found that many institutions emphasize that they have their own schools or cooperative schools abroad. Xiamen Qiaoan Education emphasizes that the institution has set up an independent school in Chinatown, Manila, Philippines, which is fully closed, and only offers courses related to the joint entrance examination except sports and music.
The relevant person in charge of Shanghai Heart Leaf Education emphasized the results. Last year was the first year for overseas Chinese students operated by the institution to take the national entrance examination. All seven students were admitted to domestic undergraduate colleges, the worst ones were admitted to Fujian Normal University, and the best ones were admitted to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and other colleges. This year, about 20 overseas Chinese students from this institution participated in the national entrance examination.
"Buy a house to send a’ migration’ green card and easily get into a famous school in China." Some domestic real estate companies also take the entrance examination for overseas Chinese students as the selling point and gimmick of their overseas real estate development. When Ms. Cheng from Sichuan visited the property of a well-known domestic real estate company in Malaysia, the staff of the real estate company told her that they had signed a cooperation agreement with well-known educational institutions for overseas Chinese students’ projects, and would set up an overseas teaching base in Malaysia to provide overseas Chinese students’ courses for the owners’ children and create a green channel leading to prestigious schools.
400 points on "985", identity determines fate?
"Don’t believe it, you can get into Shandong University with 400 points!" Seeing that Ms. Song was not confident about her son’s grades, Mr. Qi, the head of Beijing Sanyi Shuren, kept on enlightening her.
"200 marks on’ 211’" "400 marks on’ 985’", is it really as easy for overseas Chinese students to take the entrance examination as an intermediary agency’s propaganda slogan? What is the score of this "mysterious" exam? How difficult is it?
The reporter asked the overseas Chinese students about the difficulty of the joint entrance examination as parents of students. The staff of Xiamen Qiaoan Education told reporters not to worry: "Most of our students here have below-average grades and come from Fujian, Shandong and other places. However, there are also students with good grades in Xiamen and other places, in order to impact domestic first-class universities such as Peking University. " The staff promised that students with below-average grades would go to the institution to take the overseas Chinese student route, and if they worked hard, it would be no problem to be admitted to an institution; As long as you can attend classes on time and finish your homework, it’s no problem to be admitted to two colleges and universities.
"25% junior high school knowledge, 30% senior one knowledge, 35% senior two knowledge, and 10% senior three knowledge." The staff of Beijing Sanyi Shuren has repeatedly stressed that the entrance examination for overseas Chinese students is much less difficult than the ordinary college entrance examination.
Headquartered in Guangdong Education Examinations Institute, the Joint Admissions Office of China Colleges and Universities (referred to as the National Joint Admissions Office for short) will publish the minimum admission control scores for each batch of overseas Chinese students’ joint entrance examination every year from 2011 (except 2015). The reporter found that the score line has not changed for 5 years:
Literature, history and science and engineering in the first batch of undergraduate colleges: 400 points. Literature, history and science and engineering in the second batch of undergraduate colleges: 300 points. The preparatory course is reduced by 20 points on this basis. Art and sports colleges (majors) are 200 points.
In terms of the number of students admitted, according to the data provided by China Overseas Chinese Network, schools are different, such as Sun Yat-sen University and Xiamen University, which admit one or two hundred students every year; As few as Tsinghua University, there are only about 3 people every year; In the same school, the admission line changes year by year, and the difference may be great.
On the afternoon of April 13th, the reporter called Shandong University and Jilin University as parents. The staff said that in recent years, in the national joint recruitment, the annual enrollment plans of the two schools were 30 and 20 respectively. Because there were relatively few candidates who applied for the school, the admission score was 400 points for the first batch of undergraduate minimum scores. Jilin University is generally dissatisfied.
According to the staff of Beijing Sanyi Shuren, in addition to famous universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua and Fudan University, as well as famous overseas Chinese schools such as Xiamen University and Jinan University, many famous universities in inland provinces are not well-known among overseas Chinese, resulting in dissatisfaction in the national joint recruitment.
As the parents of overseas Chinese students, the reporter also called some national joint recruitment colleges and universities. The staff of the Admissions Office of Dongbei University of Finance and Economics told the reporter that the school became the first batch of undergraduate admission institutions in the national joint recruitment for the first time last year. As long as it is higher than the minimum control score of the first batch of undergraduate admission, no matter whether it is the first choice or the second choice, it has the opportunity to be accepted by the school. Last year, only two qualified candidates were admitted to the school.
Similarly, Harbin Institute of Technology only had four candidates who met the requirements to fill in the school last year. The staff of the Admissions Office of Northwest A&F University, who is also a "985" university, told the reporter that in the past two years, no candidates have applied for the school. "As long as they apply for our school and the score exceeds the minimum score of the first batch of undergraduate courses, they will have the opportunity to be admitted to our school."
According to reports, Wuhan University, Dalian University of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Xi ‘an Jiaotong University, China University of Political Science and Law, Sichuan University and other six universities scored 550 points, 480 points, 450 points, 450 points, 441 points and 420 points last year. Colleges and universities such as North China Electric Power University, as long as the first choice or the second choice applies for the school, and the score line reaches the minimum control score line of the first batch of undergraduate admission in the national joint recruitment, have the opportunity to be admitted to the school.
Although many overseas Chinese students’ joint entrance examination agencies have been promoting "100% one-copy rate", the overall admission rate of overseas Chinese students in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan is not that high. According to China Overseas Chinese Network, in the last three years, the number of applicants for the National Joint Recruitment was 4,500-4,700 each year, with a rate of 29% for one-year enrollment and 36% for two-year enrollment, and about 800-900 students failed to score 300 points each year.
"The children of overseas Chinese who are really educated overseas can’t pass these mainland candidates." Liu Haifeng, dean of the Education Research Institute of Xiamen University, believes that the surge of overseas college entrance examination immigrants has caused a "crowding-out effect" in the joint entrance examination for overseas Chinese students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and "these places of true overseas Chinese have been squeezed by overseas immigrants".
The staff of the Admissions Office of Fudan University said that in the national joint recruitment in 2016, the minimum score of liberal arts was 621 points, compared with 562 points in 2014. The admission score fluctuates greatly, which is closely related to the number of applicants and the difficulty of the test paper.
In Liu Haifeng’s view, the important reason behind this is that overseas college entrance examination immigrants have raised the scores of these schools. The staff of Beijing Sanyi Shuren also saw the soaring data: "There used to be several children, and there are more than 30 this year." He revised the agency contract again, and the fee was changed from 390 thousand yuan last year to 490 thousand yuan.
Export to domestic sales, who will crack the "overseas Chinese students"?
"Students who are usually in the same class are approaching the exam, and he has become an overseas Chinese student at the same table." Speaking of the entrance examination for overseas Chinese students, Liu Haifeng still remembers it vividly. More than ten years ago, there were many such "overseas Chinese students".
According to Liu Haifeng’s memory, because there was no restriction of living abroad for two years at that time, many mainland candidates studied in China and went out just before the exam in exchange for overseas Chinese status.
Around 2005, the "abnormal growth" of the number of overseas Chinese students seriously undermined the fairness of the national joint recruitment, infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of real overseas Chinese candidates, and caused a bad social impact. Official website, the Ministry of Education, said that due to the difference between the Joint Entrance Examination and the national college entrance examination, some intermediaries took improper measures to apply for overseas Chinese status for domestic students to take the Joint Entrance Examination, "which was particularly serious in 2005".
This transformation "road map" is roughly like this: after signing up and paying 100,000 yuan to several hundred thousand yuan, the middleman guarantees that he will be admitted; Training, intermediaries run classes in well-known universities and give classes to "overseas Chinese students"; "transformation", through the snakehead to get the so-called green card; Examination, as an "overseas Chinese student" to participate in the joint examination.
In order to obtain a foreign residence certificate for students, the "snakehead" often arranges students to travel to Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam for two days to one week.
In order to plug this loophole, in 2006, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council further clarified the qualifications for overseas Chinese students to apply for the national joint entrance examination, requiring candidates to obtain long-term or permanent residency in foreign countries and have actually lived abroad for more than two years in the last four years.
According to media reports, in 2006, there were less than 30 overseas Chinese students in the national entrance examination of Shanghai, which fell back to the scale of more than 20 in 2004, while in 2005, there were 103 overseas Chinese students in the examination center. At that time, the overseas Chinese students in Xiamen test center fell off a cliff, and only 13 people took the exam that year. At that time, thousands of students in Beijing applied for the national joint entrance examination, but only 200 people got the admission ticket.
However, training institutions soon found a way to solve the two-year residence restriction abroad, resulting in an increase in the number of overseas Chinese students. In 2016, only Xiamen Qiaoan Education claimed that more than 200 students participated in the national joint recruitment.
"Candidates who have obtained overseas Chinese status through such opportunism are legal, although unreasonable." Yang Yiping, member of the Legal Advisory Committee of China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and former member of Shenzhen CPPCC, said.
Are the participating universities and organizers aware of the "loopholes" in the joint entrance examination for overseas Chinese? The reporter consulted as a parent. The admissions offices of Jinan University and Huaqiao University clearly stated that the second home plan does not belong to long-term or permanent residency, and those who pass the project cannot apply for the school as overseas Chinese students only.
The reporter dialed the telephone number of Xiamen University in succession, and the staff said that the school did not review whether the students were qualified for the national joint entrance examination. As long as the Xiamen Admissions Examination Committee Office recognizes it and can sign up in the department, the school will recognize it.
Subsequently, the reporter called the office of Xiamen Admissions Examination Committee. The staff of the department also said that they could not answer: "We are only the registration confirmation point, and the qualification review is mainly handled by the Joint Admissions Office, and the special circumstances are decided by the Joint Admissions Office. If the joint recruitment office agrees, we will agree. " The reporter also called the Shanghai University Admissions Office, and the position of the department was similar to that of the Xiamen Admissions Examination Committee Office.
The reporter dialed the telephone number of the National Joint Admissions Office. The staff told the reporter that some candidates had reported this problem to the institution before. They had already understood the situation and reported it to the Ministry of Education.
"It’s not that we don’t care, but if the policy hasn’t changed, we can’t limit them." The staff member said that according to the current National Joint Recruitment Guide, applicants can apply as overseas Chinese students if they hold and meet the information and conditions such as China passport, long-term foreign residency, accumulated residence abroad for two years in the four years before registration, three-year high school grades, high school graduation certificate and so on. The enrollment policies such as this brochure are jointly formulated by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Public Security and other ministries, and the National Liaison Office is only responsible for implementing the existing policies.
The staff repeatedly stressed: "We can’t judge which candidates are registered through the intermediary." Taking the candidate who registered through the Malaysia Second Home Program as an example, the staff said that at present, the agency can only see that the candidate is an overseas Chinese in Malaysia, but it is impossible to distinguish whether the candidate is a true overseas Chinese or an identity operated through an intermediary.
Yang Yiping suggested that since the sole purpose of most "overseas Chinese students" who take advantage of loopholes is the national joint recruitment, their parents will not have the experience of living abroad for a long time like most overseas Chinese parents. Relevant state departments can introduce some restrictive clauses in this respect. In addition, as the Philippine Special Residence Retirement Visa, Malaysia’s Second Home Program and other projects have become the "hardest hit areas", the relevant departments should also introduce restrictive clauses for candidates who have obtained the qualification of overseas Chinese students through these projects. (Reporter Liu Bozhi Liu Dun)
[Lawyer said] Shovel off the black interest chain behind "overseas Chinese students"
Wang Yongjie
Although the behavior of "changing face" of domestic students to "overseas Chinese students" does not constitute an illegal act, it has seriously affected the national joint recruitment ecology. The influx of "rich and willful" overseas Chinese students not only encroaches on the indicators of real overseas Chinese students, reduces their enrollment ratio, but also impacts the quality of higher education in China, which is unfair to other domestic students.
To this end, the competent authorities should strengthen the examination of candidates’ registration qualifications, maintain a high-pressure attack on violations of laws and regulations, and find and investigate them together. To provide false registration materials to obtain the qualification of "overseas Chinese students", verified before the exam, to cancel their registration, examination qualification; If it is verified after the exam, it is necessary to cancel its college entrance examination results and admission qualifications; If it is verified after admission, its admission qualification shall be cancelled; Even if you have graduated, you should cancel and withdraw your student status and academic certificate. In addition, it is necessary to eliminate the "black barrier" of information, promote the all-round disclosure of overseas Chinese students’ application and admission information, and put it in the sun.
At present, parents and intermediaries of "overseas Chinese students" are "digging" loopholes in laws and regulations, and the competent authorities should fill or repair possible policy loopholes as soon as possible, and intercept and accurately crack down on all kinds of illegal acts that exploit loopholes. Because most parents of "overseas Chinese students" work and live in China for a long time, they will not have the experience of working and living abroad like real parents of overseas Chinese students. The competent department should try to find a way and set a threshold in this regard, and ask candidates to provide materials in this regard. Even if this problem can’t be completely eradicated, it will cost opportunists a great deal, and the national joint recruitment can’t become the "crooked road" for opportunists to enter famous domestic schools.
The reason why this phenomenon is getting worse and worse, such "immigration intermediaries" and "training institutions" have been publicized everywhere, and even hyped up in the open media, which has played a role in fueling the situation. Through the network of relationships, such institutions exploit policy loopholes to help domestic students apply for long-term or permanent residency in the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries, and collect benefits from them. Relevant departments should be brave enough to show their swords. They should not let them go because they are "legal", but should effectively crack down and cut off the black interest chain behind "overseas Chinese students" by standardizing the conditions for applying for the exam. (Author Wang Yongjie, chief lawyer of Beijing Zeyong Law Firm)