Two dozen first-year Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) students have been accused of using fake credentials to gain admittance to the university, local media has reported.
Judiciary police spokesperson Lou Chan Fai said a mainland “syndicate” had been forging Hong Kong secondary school examination certificates for mainland Chinese applicants who did not otherwise meet the academic criteria to study at MUST.
Macao’s Education and Youth Development Bureau confirmed to the Macau Post Daily that 24 students would be expelled from MUST over the incident. Police have questioned four of the students, while the other 20 reportedly fled the city before being apprehended.
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The bogus papers purported to be Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) certificates. MUST uncovered the forgeries in cooperation with the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), and the HKEAA reported the cases to the police.
Hong Kong’s education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin has described the cases as “outrageous.”
MUST’s vice president, Kwong Ying Wah, told media that the university was considering whether it needed to interview all applicants in person before granting admittance, to prevent the situation from being repeated. He also admitted that this was not the first time MUST had encountered forged exam results.
