Dong Do University Principal Accused of Granting Hundreds of Wrong Degrees 2
Investigators believe that 600-700 people received a second degree from Dong Do University without having to attend school, paying only 28-35 million VND.
Investigating the granting of a second degree in the "buying" style at Dong Do University, on August 1, the Security Investigation Agency (Ministry of Public Security) prosecuted the accused Mr. Duong Van Hoa (principal); Tran Ngoc Quang (57 years old, deputy head of the training and student management department) and two Dong Do University officials, Pham Van Thuy (38 years old), Le Thi Luong (23 years old) for the crime ofFraud at work, according to Article 359 of the 2015 Penal Code.
The representative of the investigation agency said that at the end of 2018, the unit received information that some universities were lax in managing the granting of second degrees. Students were mainly officials and civil servants who needed diplomas and foreign language certificates to get a raise, a promotion, or to take the recruitment exam.
Owners of some degrees granted by Dong Do University said they did not have to study, just paid money and received a "flash" degree in 2-3 weeks or 2-3 months...
The investigation into the case revealed that Dong Do University announced the fee for these types of classes to be from 28 to 35 million VND per person. The intermediaries were paid a 30% commission by the school. In reality, the intermediaries saw that customers were in a hurry to get their degrees, so they raised the price by 50 to 150 million VND.
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A second degree was confiscated by the police. Photo: CMr. An provided |
These types of second degree classes do not announce enrollment, do not set up an examination board, and do not approve the list of students and invigilators. The Dong Do University administration arranges exams in rooms without security cameras, and students only need to copy the answers for 27 credits to complete the exit procedure. "Those who copy quickly will finish in just over a day, those who copy slowly will take 2-3 days," the investigator said.
Principal Hoa assigned Mr. Quang to sign the transcripts for the students. Ms. Thuy was responsible for legalizing the entrance exams, final exams, graduation exams and granting degrees.
According to the accusation, from late 2018 to early 2019, Dong Do University issued 600-700 "express" degrees, with an estimated total revenue of tens of billions of dong. Currently, the police agency has clarified that nearly 460 degrees have been used in many state and private agencies.
From 2017 to present, Dong Do University has also illegally organized enrollment for the second degree program with thousands of students at 4 campuses: 9 Hoang Dao Thuy, 60B Nguyen Huy Tuong, 170 Pham Van Dong and Grandstand B of My Dinh Stadium.
These are all privately managed facilities that hire their own instructors and develop their own curriculum. They cooperate with the school to gain recognition and pay Dong Do 35% of the tuition. According to the investigation agency, these students are being trained in violation of the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training (studying outside the facility, the instructors and curriculum are not evaluated), so they will not be granted a degree.
Mr. Le Van Thiep (Hanoi Bar Association) said that the management agency of those who "bought degrees" above needs to take measures to ensure fairness for those who "really studied". For those who are still studying, the authorities must cancel the learning results and force the affiliated centers to return the collected money.
