Just yesterday, the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne issued an announcement:
The Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Melbourne reminds Chinese students in the consular district not to entrust illegal study abroad agents and individuals to apply for online examinations.
And the content of the announcement is quite explosive...
"Recently, a university in our consular district promulgated a new regulation that international students can return to China for military service and apply to only take online final exams. Some illegal study abroad agents and individuals took the opportunity to apply for fake application materials for individual Chinese students, and some of the materials submitted by the students were questioned by the university and rejected. ”
The Consulate General in Melbourne reminds Chinese students in the consular district not to trust unscrupulous intermediaries or individuals and entrust them to submit such application materials to the university for a fee, so as not to be deceived and damage their reputation.
Photo credit: Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Melbourne
For the online exam, Chinese students were deceived by illegal intermediaries to find a reason for military service, and they were also deceived...
It's really a good "niche" way to be deceived.
After carefully searching for relevant information, the school known as "a university in my consular district" is Monash University.
Image source: US News
The reason for this is that Monash University has issued the latest regulations for online examinations.
If you want to switch from an in-person exam to an online exam, you must meet one of the two conditions to be eligible to apply for the online exam:
The first is: during the examination period, you are participating in programs organized by Monash University, such as GIG and overseas intensive courses;
The second is: during the examination period, is participating in compulsory military service.
Image credit: Monash
As a result, this notice has made many unscrupulous intermediaries see "new business opportunities", and advertisements are overwhelming, all of which are advertising that they can help Chinese students to issue certificates of military service, so that they can smoothly transfer to online exams.
#01: Falsely claiming military service for online exams? None of these intermediaries can be trusted
It is true that some Chinese students panic when they see offline exams, especially Monash University, which is said to have one of the highest failure rates. So in order to switch to online exams, I believed the propaganda of these intermediaries.
As a result, the money is gone, the intermediaries are gone...
Only then did I find out that I had been scammed.
"Now that I think about it, I'm really stupid, and I dare to use the reason of military service hahaha, give myself a big mouth. The dead liar doesn't return the money, and the sisters are deceived one by one when they go online, take the test, just take the test, it's annoying. ”
Image source: Xiaohongshu @昀昀
According to the post posted by this international student, it can be seen that she should have seen the propaganda of those intermediaries on Xiaohongshu, and believed that she could really transfer to the online exam through military service.
The agent also really helped her submit the application for military service, which cost $2,000.
The result can be imagined to be unpassable, and it was directly rejected by the school.
However, the agent said that the money could not be refunded.
Image source: Xiaohongshu
In fact, this policy does not apply to Chinese students in the first place, and China does not have a policy of compulsory military service.
Image source: Xiaohongshu @ It's hard not to love
Therefore, those intermediaries who claim to be able to help international students transfer online by making materials must be deceiving.
Many international students think that they can fool the school with the "fake" materials produced by the agent, but in fact, the school will contact the embassy for verification!
Image source: Xiaohongshu
In this wave, many international students thought that they were in the atmosphere, and they could rely on this way to make the school believe the reason for their application to change online, but they didn't expect that they didn't even break through the ceiling
#02: Operation RMIT Thunder checks for cheating, and Chinese students receive an investigation email
When it comes to academic integrity, Australian universities have always been very strict. Even if it is a fluke, the school is likely to "settle accounts after the fall"!
RMIT has vigorously launched a "review operation".
Many Chinese students at RMIT have reported that they have received an email from the school.
The email noted that in November RMIT re-examined all assignments and quizzes submitted by students between 2018 and 2020.
In the process of review, the school found that some of the students' previous assignments may not have been completed by themselves, so they sent this email to these students.
The University believes that as a result of the above behavior, these students may not have achieved the academic goals they are expected to achieve during their time at the University and will not be able to obtain the normal degree award at this stage.
In other words, these students who are found to have cheated on their assignments will face a postponement of graduation.
In order to further confirm whether the student has actually cheated on previous assignments, the school has made the following decisions:
The school will conduct further investigation into the assessment of students' work;
Students who receive the mail may be asked to attend a hearing;
The school will notify the student further of the matter.
As can be seen from the content of the email, not every student at the school has received this email. At present, the school has only issued notices to students who have doubts about some of their homework.
Some students who received the message sent an email to the school to inquire about the incident, and received a reply.
The school said it is currently unable to tell students which assignment is suspected of plagiarism, and if it is found that the assignment is still plagiarized in the subsequent investigation, the student will be further notified.
In addition to RMIT, some students said on social media platforms that students at the University of Mexico had received similar notices.
As we all know, violating "academic integrity" in Australia is a very serious matter, and the school is still under further review of these suspected problematic assignments.
If the cheating is "hammered" in the subsequent investigation, the student will not be able to graduate on time and will need to retake.
In addition, the Australian government has introduced draconian bills against academic integrity, and scammers who sell services by taking exams or ghostwriting essays for college students face imprisonment.
It will be an offence to provide or advertise cheating services to university students. Those found guilty could face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to $210,000.
At last
The ultimate goal of studying abroad is to learn knowledge, and cheating will not bring you any benefits.
Failure to do so may result in retaking or retaking the exam, but when it comes to academic integrity, it will affect the integrity record and will have serious consequences. Helping to cheat is even more of an illegal and criminal act.
Therefore, you still have to be down-to-earth in your studies, so that you don't have to panic no matter what the form of the exam, and you won't be taken advantage of by those scammers.