Xiong Bingqi: Standardize the publication of advertisements for continuing education of academic qualifications and eliminate false information

Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and other five departments issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Advertising for Continuing Education for Higher Education" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"). The "Notice" requires that all kinds of advertising media, especially Internet media such as major portals, search engines, e-commerce platforms, mobile clients and new media accounts, should strengthen the review of the qualifications and content of the main body of advertising for continuing education for higher education, and must not publish corresponding advertisements and illegal information without written authorization.

This is after the regulation of K12 off-campus training advertisements, and the publication of advertisements involving continuing education of higher education is regulated. Its purpose is to clean up the advertising chaos of academic continuing education, control false advertising, and safeguard the legitimate rights of consumers. To implement the "Notice" and standardize the release of advertisements for continuing education for higher education, on the one hand, it is necessary for the regulatory authorities to strengthen the investigation and punishment of institutions and platforms that publish advertisements in violation of the law, on the other hand, it is necessary for the competent departments of education and enrollment colleges and universities to increase the intensity of information disclosure and publicity through authoritative mainstream media, so that the educated can obtain authoritative information and make rational choices.

The advertising chaos of continuing education for higher education is related to the disorderly competition of websites, apps, and self-media platforms, and the lack of attention to content moderation. The "Notice" issued this time proposes: The content of advertisements for continuing education for higher education must be true and accurate, and must not contain false and exaggerated, misleading, and fraudulent content; there must be no explicit or implicit guarantee commitments to the educational effect such as "easy to take academic qualifications", "exemption from examination packages", and "refund of examinations"; the relationship between self-study examination assistance activities and college academic education must not be blurred; and the nature of non-higher education institutions such as specialized training colleges, training colleges, and technician colleges must not be confused with the nature of colleges and universities that carry out academic education.

Overall, most of these false and illegal advertising content is released through some websites, self-media platforms, etc. If netizens often have such an experience, when surfing the Internet, they will encounter a web pop-up window saying that an institution can get a bachelor's degree without exams. This is a typical false propaganda, you can get a bachelor's degree without exams, isn't it selling diplomas? If such operations exist, the institution is operating in violation of the law. This type of advertising is also a serious injury to the image of continuing education for higher education. Affected by such illegal advertising, some people believe that higher education is "spending money to buy diplomas" and has no gold content. It can even be said that in recent years, the discrimination against higher education continuing education is also related to some advertisements claiming to "easily get a diploma" and "skip the exam package".

In contrast, mainstream media publishing such advertisements are usually subject to strict review and are responsible for the authenticity of the advertising content. It is unlikely that there will be "exemption from the exam package" at first glance is illegal propaganda. Therefore, the focus of regulating advertising media such as online platforms and self-media as the focus of strengthening the advertising release management of continuing education for higher education is targeted.

First of all, the regulatory authorities should strictly investigate the false advertising information released by online platforms and self-media, and follow the vine to investigate and punish and ban the academic continuing education institutions that operate in violation of the law, so as to clear the source. Information such as "skip the exam package" is flying all over the world, which also reflects the problem of poor supervision.

Second, in order to avoid "bad currency for good money", it is necessary to strengthen the intensity of information disclosure. The reason why some educated people are confused by false advertising is because they do not understand specific policies and do not understand the difference between academic continuing education, non-academic continuing education and full-time education, so they will credulously believe the propaganda and "commitment" of some institutions. In this case, authoritative institutions and legal and formal continuing education institutions should take the initiative to release information to guide the educated to choose legal and formal institutions, and also maintain the order of higher education continuing education.

Of course, for the educated, choosing academic continuing education, should also change the concept, can not spend money to buy a diploma of mixed diploma psychology, do not believe in "pie in the sky". After entering the era of popularization of higher education, higher education continuing education will meet the needs of the educated to receive higher continuing education, and is also an important part of building a lifelong learning society. To receive continuing education with higher academic qualifications, the educated should choose a legal and formal institution, analyze their teachers, curriculum and education model, and pay attention not only to the diplomas obtained, but also to the quality of education and their own ability to improve. (Xiong Bingqi, President of 21st Century Education Research Institute)