1. Friday May 25, 2018
      Home > News > Society
      Text:| Print|

      Foreign agents locked out

      2012-11-05 10:24 Global Times     Web Editor: Wang YuXia comment

      Foreign-owned agencies providing services for Chinese students hoping to study at universities overseas may soon be locked out of the Chinese market entirely as part of a government plan which will also strengthen supervision over domestic operators.

      Chinese businesses have welcomed the move, though critics have claimed that it unfairly protects locally-based businesses.

      The draft regulation, issued by the Ministry of Education on October 29, will allow provincial-level authorities to approve or reject licenses for domestically owned companies, while also requiring that they set aside an emergency 500,000 yuan fund ($80,100). They will also be subject to fines of up to 100,000 yuan if their fraud prevents customers from attending universities overseas.

      However, it will also ban foreign intermediaries from entering the market entirely. It states that foreign agencies and their representative offices in China, foreign-invested enterprises and schools cooperatively run by Chinese and foreign parties, as well as individual foreigners, are not allowed to engage in any form of intermediary services in China.

      Hu Benwei, executive director with a Beijing-based consulting center on intermediary agencies, said foreign-owned agencies had been increasing in number and "If students are cheated by them, it is difficult for the authorities to track down who should be held responsible." However, some Chinese operators disagreed, noting that foreign agencies also provide assistance to locally owned agents.

      Local vs foreign

      The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in July that New Zealand officials discovered that applications from 279 Chinese students contained fraudulent and forged content, and "China-based" agencies were to blame for the falsified information, which included tertiary qualifications and bank statements.

      Of course, foreign agencies are also guilty of cheating students, but unlike domestic agencies, which are often the subject of tales of fraud on the Chinese blogosphere, a cursory online search of fraud by foreign agencies fails to yield significant results.

      In one case, a Web user surnamed Huang said she lost two opportunities to study abroad in 2009 because of an Australian agency. She claimed that she lost the first opportunity because the agency did not send the offer with her signature back to the university she had applied for, although the agency insisted that they had. When she received an offer from a second university via the same agency, she was threatened and told to pay a fee for both applications, or risk losing the chance to get a visa.

      Support for the measure

      Unsurprisingly, domestic agencies are pleased with the news. They say that it will protect students from predatory behavior and facilitate supervision throughout China.

      Hu's company is not an intermediary agency per se, it instead acts as an intermediary between potential students and the agencies by recommending reliable services. He told the Global Times that "a large number of unlicensed foreign agencies in China operate under the name of the enrollment office of a foreign university, which are even more deceptive, as it's often easier for agencies related to a university to win trust."

      "Besides, some foreign chambers of commerce or cultural exchange associations also cheat their customers," said Zhang Weiyong, an overseas study consultant with the National Development and Reform Commission Training Center, who also used a Chinese idiom to describe the situation, by saying that these agencies were "hanging out a sheep's head but selling dog meat."

      Zhang is also the chief technology officer of the American department at the Beijing Golden Orient International Educational & Cultural Exchange Centre, which essentially acts as an intermediary agency.

      "Generally, those agencies offer two kinds of services: providing information on foreign universities and handling the student's application process," said Zhang, adding that the first service should be offered for free, while those who offer the second option should be properly licensed.

      However, some subsidiaries of foreign agencies have managed to apply for licenses, by working with locals and having locals act as the legal representative. The Australia-based Dipont Education Management Group, which has subsidiaries in Chengdu, Changsha and Wuxi, has these outlets listed as licensed agencies by the Ministry of Education, despite the fact that the ministry specifies that only Chinese citizens can register for a license.

      In defense of foreign agents

      Wang Wanlong, an overseas study consultant and CEO of the California-based Wang Consulting International, told the Global Times that increased supervision would be sufficient, instead of a ban. "The ban, if passed, will go against the principles of fairness of the WTO," Wang said, adding that without these agencies which can be more knowledgeable when it comes to foreign universities, people applying to overseas schools may find that the situation becomes even worse.

      Even domestic agencies sometimes rely on their foreign counterparts. An employee of a licensed Chinese agency said on condition of anonymity that her agency fears the ban could have negative ramifications.

      "Some applicants ask us to help them with a change of university when they feel dissatisfied, and in these circumstances, we often seek help from those foreign agencies for their connections," she said, adding that the draft should provide more clarification on which agencies exactly will be banned.

      Questions sent to the Ministry of Education on the draft did not receive any reply as of press time.

      Comments (0)

      Copyright ©1999-2011 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
      Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

      主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲成AV人片在线观看无| 免费A级毛片无码久久版| 亚洲AV综合色一区二区三区| 美女黄色毛片免费看| 免费a级黄色毛片| 色多多免费视频观看区一区| 亚洲av高清在线观看一区二区 | 华人在线精品免费观看| 亚洲精品无码99在线观看| 麻豆91免费视频| 亚洲午夜激情视频| 久久一区二区免费播放| 亚洲乱码日产一区三区| 无码国产精品一区二区免费3p| 日韩亚洲人成在线综合日本 | 精品人妻系列无码人妻免费视频| 亚洲一级特黄大片无码毛片| WWW免费视频在线观看播放| 亚洲VA成无码人在线观看天堂| 四虎国产成人永久精品免费| 91亚洲性爱在线视频| 成人看的午夜免费毛片| 鲁啊鲁在线视频免费播放| 伊伊人成亚洲综合人网7777| 久久久高清日本道免费观看| 亚洲影视自拍揄拍愉拍| 免费看一级做a爰片久久| 中文字幕免费观看视频| 亚洲福利视频网站| 国产jizzjizz免费看jizz| aaa毛片视频免费观看| 亚洲人成毛片线播放| avtt亚洲天堂| 99爱免费观看视频在线| 亚洲精品无码久久久久APP| 亚洲免费日韩无码系列| **俄罗斯毛片免费| 免费国产黄网站在线看| 亚洲精品免费在线视频| 免费国产a国产片高清| 99久久综合精品免费|