'Credibility crisis' forces elite to update CVs

Dozens of Chinese high-level professionals are reportedly scrambling to revise their online resumes following a recent row over the diploma authenticity of a renowned Chinese entrepreneur, creating a chilling effect that what analysts are calling a "credibility crisis" in the country.

Tang Jun, former president of Microsoft China, had been accused of faking his academic credentials in his autobiography, in which he claims to hold a doctorate diploma in computer science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from 1990.

Criticizing Tang was Fang Zhouzi, who is well known as a staunch opponent of academic misconduct. Fang claimed that Tang's name wasn't on the list of CaltTech graduates that year.

Tang responded by saying that he actually graduated from Pacific Western University (PWU), not CalTech, in 1995, and the official custodian of academic records for PWU from 1997 to 2005, Dr. S. Foster, confirmed Sunday to the Global Times by e-mail the authenticity of Tang's diploma.

"In regards to Jun Tang, we can confirm that he earned and received his PhD degree in electrical engineering from Pacific Western University in 1993," Foster said.

But Fang hit back, noting that US authorities closed down PWU in 2006 for being a diploma mill.

PWU sold its assets in 2005 to a new ownership group that opened California Miramar University (CMU) in San Diego, California, in November 2005, according to Foster.

Neither PWU nor CMU were on California's list of qualified higher education institutions that was updated by the Chinese Ministry of Education on June 1.

And US education authorities don't recognize diplomas from either PWU or CMU.

Richard Bensberg, managing director of the Beijing-based Red Flag Screening Company, which specializes in checking the authenticity of CVs that job applicants submit to their prospective companies, also told the Global Times Sunday that PWU was considered a diploma mill in the US.

"Some of our clients used to authorize us to check the authority of PWU, and based on our research, the university is not approved by the US Department of Education, and it was sued by the government of Hawaii earlier for issuing illegal education degrees," Bensberg said.

The credential controversy heated up Saturday when a list of PWU graduates appeared online, listing the names and jobs of more than 100 graduates, almost half of whom are mainland business executives who claim doctorial degrees from PWU.

A man on the list, who is the general manager of a prominent investment company based in Beijing, and who asked to remain anonymous, defended Tang.

"Fang didn't even try to understand how the university system works in the US before he threw all this criticism on us," he said.

The man told the Global Times Sunday that he went to the US in 2001 and spent $10,000 in tuition fees on 16 business administration classes organized by PWU, and he was awarded a doctorate in business administration by the university in 2003.

"I wrote a thesis before graduation, and my degree was authorized by the Ministry of Education after I came back to China," the man said.

The accuracy of the list could be also questioned since many of the graduates on the list cannot be found in the companies they reportedly work for.

"All these are false accusations," Tang told China National Radio on Tuesday. Tang's secretary, Li Xin, confirmed on Wednesday that Tang was planning to sue Fang, though no timetable was given.

Source:Global Times
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