Thuy felt her chest tighten while she read the document on her laptop. Thuy, 24, took the end-of-semester exam to earn her master’s in public policy from a Chinese university. She couldn’t answer one question.

Thuy took the exam remotely, just like other international students. China has made it impossible for foreign students to enter the country since mid-2020 as part of its “zero COVID” policy. As she scanned the text feverishly, her professors viewed every movement via video.

Thuy saw the problem was irresolvable after a few minutes. The remainder of her time was spent writing the exam instructions repeatedly to complete the page. The same thing was done in her second test, which she took a few days later.

It was not surprising that the student cried during the exam. Thuy is not fluent in Chinese. Thuy often has trouble following her three-hour lecture delivered in Mandarin. She is also not interested in public policy. She recalls feeling confused by the slide decks when she was revising for the test in January.

Thuy said, “Everything was foreign to me,” and spoke to Sixth Tone under a pseudonym to keep her private.

Thuy isn’t qualified to study at her school — a well-respected school in Beijing. She was not a merit-based student like many other international students who enrolled in Chinese universities. It was her expense.

In recent years, it has become more common to buy admissions to Chinese university programs in Vietnam and receive lucrative government scholarships. Numerous businesses have sprung up to facilitate this trade. They leverage connections at Chinese universities to assist clients in getting selected.

These companies allow many Vietnamese students to get degrees from Chinese colleges that they aren’t qualified to attend. Many of them, like Thuy, are not well-prepared and have difficulty keeping up with their Chinese counterparts.

The government often incentivizes Chinese universities to increase their overseas student intake. However, they seem to ignore this issue. Sixth Tone heard from international students that their professors would go to great lengths to award them passing grades, even though they didn’t answer any of the questions on their exams.

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Fake applications

Soon after receiving her bachelor’s degree from a Hanoi university, Thuy applied for a postgraduate program in China in 2019. She stated that her primary motivation for applying was to improve her Chinese language skills.

As multinationals move their manufacturing operations from China, more Vietnamese are looking for Chinese speakers. This trend is especially evident in small Vietnamese cities such as Bac Giang (Thuy’s hometown), where Chinese-speaking people are scarce.

China also offered other benefits. China offered a low cost of living, proximity to Vietnam, and a high level of prestige thanks to its growing reputation. Additionally, China provides generous scholarships each year to thousands of international students, each worth tens of thousands of dollars.

China was Asia’s most popular destination for studying abroad by 2018. In 2020, around 13,500 Vietnamese students enrolled in Chinese colleges, surpassing any country except the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

A poor academic record plagued Thuy. Thuy had a 3.0 GPA and had just graduated from a low-ranked Vietnamese university. She knew that she would struggle to win a full scholarship, let alone get into a college in a significant Chinese town.

Thuy’s classmates suggested that she contact an agency. Over the past decade, these agencies have seen a lot of success in Vietnam. These businesses are usually registered as Chinese language learning centers, but they also provide an additional service: assistance to students applying for Chinese colleges.

Thuy conducted some research on Facebook and discovered that many language centers offered scholarship application services. Many offered all the necessary application materials in return for a hefty fee. It was sure that you would succeed.

Thuy eventually decided to use the Hanoi National University’s language center. A lecturer managed it. It was also known as Tieng Trung Thay Hung on Facebook.

Thuy said, “I sought information from many centers to compare the prices.” “That one was trustworthy and relatively inexpensive.”

Thuy contacted the agency and was assigned a mentor to help her through the application process. The mentor explained the service to her in person.

The mentor would assist Thuy in applying for the China Scholarship Council scholarship. This is a Chinese government scheme that offers international students a complete waiver of tuition fees, free accommodation, and a monthly living allowance of approximately $470.

They would have to create an account at the CSC website and upload documents. The mentor would handle the rest. He would prepare a study plan for her, get recommendation letters from two Chinese scholars, and ensure that she was not subject to the interview process. The agency would refund half of Thuy’s fee if she did not win a scholarship.

The agency had limits on what it could accomplish. Thuy only passed the HSK5 Chinese language proficiency test with an average score. Her mentor advised her that she was unlikely to get accepted at a university in Shanghai, which is her preferred destination. He advised her to apply to a public policy program as they are less competitive.

The mentor suggested that Thuy could apply to any university where he has connections, including institutions in Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Tianjin. She chose a Beijing university that had a good ranking.

They said she was nervous when she gave the $2,000.00 first payment. They said that she was worried when she handed over the first payment of $2,000. She read about fraudsters using Facebook to pretend to be language center mentors.

Everything went well. Within one week of the money being transferred, she received a high-quality study plan and two letters of recommendation. Shortly after receiving the money, she was offered a full CSC scholarship at the university.

Thuy said that all it took was to complete an online application. “Then I uploaded the material that was prepared for me.”

Thuy helped her younger brother, from the southwest megacity of Chongqing, get into a bachelor’s degree program at a university using a similar service. Ha Ninh, a second language center, offered the same package at a mere $2,000.

Thuy estimates that she received Chinese scholarships totaling $35,400 and $27.300 for her brother. Thuy shared with Sixth Tone that they could not travel to China because of the pandemic and had to study remotely. However, she said she has no regrets about using the language center.

She said, “I made the right investments.” “Without this service, I don’t think I would have been able to receive this scholarship.”

Sixth Tone did not receive any comment from Tieng Trung Thay Haung, Ha Ninh, or the universities of Beijing and Chongqing.

A web of connections

Nguyen Thai Ngoc is a law student at Hunan University. He also applied successfully for a Chinese government scholarship via a language center.

The 26-year-old contacted Hoai Phuong HSK Language Center on the recommendation of a friend. It claimed that it offered “overseas studies consultancy services” via its Facebook page. Her parents assured her that they would help her pay the fee.

Ngoc initially believed that the company offered guidance to students on how to get through the application process. They would supply critical documents at a high cost, however.

Sixth Tone was told that she received recommendation letters from them to be her Chinese language teacher. “But they never taught us a single Chinese word.”

Ngoc stated that the company sold recommendation letters separately at $220 per piece, but she chose to purchase an all-inclusive package much as the one Thuy bought. According to Ngoc, most Chinese language centers in Hanoi offer similar services.

Ngoc said, “I tried asking language centers that don’t publish those scholarship services.” They do indeed have them.

A graduate from northern Vietnam is also an intermediary between students and Chinese language centers. According to her, the CSC scholarship center that she works with costs between $4,500-$7,000 depending on which university the student chooses, the mentor, and the recommendation letter.

Sixth Tone spoke to the 27-year-old using a pseudonym because she is sensitive about her identity. She has applied for two scholarships for Chinese language centers and found it easy to promote the benefits of the service.

She paid $1,000 for a Confucius Institute scholarship in 2018 to study Chinese at Zhengzhou University, central China. She then paid $5,100 to be enrolled in a CSC master’s program.

Although the second fee was quite expensive, An felt it was well worth it. I had just passed HSK5 with a low GPA of 2.9. However, the language center was able to offer a glowing recommendation from the head of Hanoi’s Confucius Institute. This is a Chinese government-funded language, culture, and language center.

She claims that The language center assured her that her application would be accepted. The fee allowed her to secure a place at her preferred school without taking time off from her job as an accountant in preparation.

She stated that despite knowing the cost of consulting services, she didn’t have the time to prepare as many documents. “Plus, I didn’t have any connections at university… I didn’t want to feel stressed.”

While studying in China, An was an intermediary. Several lecturers approached her from her Chinese university to help recruit more Vietnamese students.

Attracting more international students to Chinese universities can boost their domestic league rankings. This helps universities attract international students and investment.

A stated that even with the generous government scholarships, low-ranked universities in more minor well-known Chinese cities are often unable to attract international students. Because China has strict border policies, international students cannot travel to China. They must instead attend classes online.

She offered to help her university recruit Vietnamese students occasionally. She said she connects with the school only through her friends and acquaintances.

It says that it is still possible to apply for a Chinese scholarship even if you don’t have a language center. The service is now more valuable because of the increased competition for scholarships. Candidates can benefit from the mentors’ guanxi (or relationships with insiders at Chinese universities).

A stated that teachers must deepen their guanxi by visiting schools each year to strengthen their relationships. “While outstanding students will be still selected, the schools will choose average students with great connections.

Nguyen Thi Quynh, a Chinese teacher in Hue who applied for the CSC scholarship, said she felt disadvantaged. She was the only person she knew that didn’t use a language center.

Quynh said, “Most of my peers paid for an expensive internet service to improve their applications.” It made me feel very stressed at that time.

Quynh could not afford the expensive language center fees, but she was confident in her academic accomplishments. Quynh decided to apply for the job on her own. She was successful.

Quynh stated that “Because the high success rate for average students winning scholarships makes it more likely that many applicants will be successful in applying for scholarships via centers,”

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Poor outcomes

Despite writing almost nothing for her first exams, Thuy still received passing grades in both classes. Thuy noticed that her written assignments get excellent rates, even though their quality is far less than her Chinese classmates.

Thuy stated that her Chinese professors were always lenient with international students. She added that teachers seem especially concerned about losing foreign students because China’s “zero COVID” policies continue into the third year.

The university’s reputation could be damaged if there is a higher dropout rate from overseas students. Universities are graded on the percentage of international students they have, both in domestic league tables and international league tables.

However, they all agreed that despite all the benefits they get, there is growing dissatisfaction among international students at Chinese universities.

Many students choose to study abroad because of the many scholarships available and the opportunity to live in a Chinese-speaking culture. They are becoming frustrated at the limitations of learning in a Chinese college, as they can’t improve their Chinese language skills.

China’s education system is not ideal. It has large classes, outdated teaching materials, and an exam-oriented curriculum. International students also dislike China’s social solid control and internet restrictions.

An. stated that the Chinese society is more closed than ours.

Seventeen of the 11 international students in Thuy’s degree program are already out. Thuy stated that many of them chose to leave after losing hope of being permitted to return to China in 2024.

Thuy intends to continue her studies but regrets that she chose her public policy major. She is currently studying for her second-semester exams in theory-heavy subjects like Chinese sports policy or organizational analysis.

She said that the second semester’s coursework is more challenging and intense.

She is looking into hiring a ghostwriter for help with her exams. She has not had any luck so far. Vietnamese ghostwriters do not offer Chinese services, and hiring a Chinese ghostwriter is too risky. Her teachers would be able to tell that a native Chinese speaker wrote the text.