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Some costly 12-lesson online courses promising Hong Kong university credentials and professor recommendations have been exposed as a fraud, leaving students with nothing but a bitter lesson in deception.
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Priced between 20,000 and 30,000 yuan, those online programs -- advertised on Xiaohongshu -- promised courses taught by professors from renowned institutions including the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
In response, HKU, CUHK, and HKUST stressed that they have never collaborated with any agencies and have not authorized them to recruit students in the university's name.
In a report by Sing Tao Daily -- the sister publication of The Standard -- a reporter posing as a parent contacted an agent named Liz, who promoted courses focused on artificial intelligence that were allegedly taught by professors from prestigious universities such as the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London.
She specifically highlighted a course taught by a HKU professor "KJT", focusing on natural language processing and deep learning, with a website linking to the academic profile of HKU Assistant Professor Ke Jintao from the Department of Civil Engineering.
Promises of international recognition
Upon further inquiry about another course allegedly taught by professor "L" from the CUHK's Department of Electronic Engineering, centered on "Applications of Wireless Power in Smart Devices," Liz provided a photo of the professor that matched Andrew Loh Poh-chiang of the university.
She stated that the 12-week online course costs 32,800 yuan (approximately HK$35,814), which will be conducted in groups of 6 to 10.
The first six weeks involve 1.5 hours of weekly lectures, followed by one hour of guidance from PhD assistants, while the remaining six weeks focus on completing the research paper with the help of academic advisors.
Notably, she assured that the students' papers would be indexed in internationally recognized academic databases such as Scopus, EI, and CPCI.
After completing the course, students are promised to receive certificates bearing professors' signatures and the university's name, which Liz claimed could bring advantages for applying to universities.
Additionally, students would receive up to 10 handwritten recommendation letters from professors, detailing their problem-solving approaches, contributions, and professional attitudes.
Highlighting a long-time collaboration with the professors, Liz asserted that the professors' endorsement would aid in applications to HKU and CUHK.
She further cited an example of a student from Guangzhou who participated in similar courses, received offers from HKU, CUHK, and City University of Hong Kong last year, along with a scholarship of HK$550,000.
In another inquiry, an agent surnamed Yam promoted a course focusing on the "Reaction Process and Influencing Factors of New Energy Batteries," covering topics like hydrogen fuel cells, lithium batteries, and solid-state batteries.
He claimed the course was taught by Professor S, the director of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at HKUST, with assistance from tutors.
The course fees are varied: 26,800 yuan (approximately HK$29,263) for individual paper submissions and 19,800 yuan (approximately HK$21,619) per person for group submissions of 2 to 4.
"Although university professors could not provide internal recommendations for candidates applying to their own university, their recommendation would still carry significant weight due to their influence in the field," Yam added.
With the course list provided by the agent, several professors, including David Ahlstrom from CUHK and Wong Heung-wah from HKU, were found to match the course descriptions.
Industry representatives pointed out that Hong Kong university professors are required to declare any paid external teaching activities to their institutions to avoid conflicts of interest.
They suggested that the agencies might be using professors' lecture materials without authorization, urging students to verify the authenticity before enrolling.
University responses
HKU expressed serious concern about the situation, clarifying that professor Wong Heung-wah retired in April last year and is now an honorary associate professor in the Faculty of Arts.
Although Wong conducted a six-week online seminar for one of the above-mentioned agencies in May, HKU confirmed he did not sign any documents accrediting the agency.
Regarding Ke Jintao, HKU stressed that he has never participated in any related paid online courses and has requested the agency to stop using his name for promotional purposes and to remove false information.
The university reiterated that there is no "internal recommendation" mechanism and reserves the right to take legal action against fraudulent advertisements using its name.
Meanwhile, CUHK clarified that Andrew Loh Poh-chiang has not participated in the advertised courses or related work, stating they would contact the relevant organization to request the removal of his name and photo from current and future advertisements.
A spokesperson from CUHK clarified that David Ahlstrom is an emeritus professor, adding that the school has never collaborated with any organization to launch research courses.
The school noted that an investigation is underway, reiterating that admission standards are unrelated to paid courses and reserving the right to pursue legal actions against entities falsely claiming collaboration or authorization.
Similarly, HKUST expressed deep regret and condemned the online advertisement, reserving the right to take legal action.
The school emphasized that all projects are not organized by HKUST nor collaborative relationships.
