SINGAPORE \u2013 Singapore\u2019s two largest universities have put up advisories cautioning prospective applicants against purported study abroad agencies on Chinese social media platforms offering paid services claiming to help applicants secure \u201cguaranteed\u201d admissions to their postgraduate degree programmes. <\/p>\n
The National University of Singapore\u2019s (NUS) advisory on its website said the agencies will typically employ fraudulent means such as fabricating academic qualifications and other credentials in application packages to mislead universities.<\/p>\n
The university said candidates need to fulfil stipulated qualifying criteria and all applications are reviewed based on merit. \u201cThere are no \u2018guaranteed\u2019, \u2018fast track\u2019 or \u2018direct\u2019 admission routes to NUS,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Checks on Xiaohongshu found many such agencies offering \u201cdirection admission\u201d to NUS and Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Most of the agencies target those with poor high school grades or low undergraduate GPAs, and who have yet to pass English proficiency tests such as the International English Language Testing System.<\/p>\n
One agency, Zhongsheng International Education, offers to help students enter NUS and NTU, among other top universities worldwide, at fees starting from 300,000 yuan (S$55,000).<\/p>\n Zhongsheng International Education offers to help students enter NUS and NTU, among other top universities worldwide, at fees starting from 300,000 yuan (S$55,000).<\/p>\n PHOTOS: ZHONGSHENG INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n On its website, the agency claims that it was set up in 2017, and that it works with universities to serve more than 1,000 customers annually. <\/p>\n Another agency called Flying Career also offers university applicants recommendation letters from professors at top universities, and purports to be able to pass background checks.<\/p>\n Both agencies did not respond to queries from The Straits Times on the legitimacy of their services. <\/p>\n In response to queries, NUS said it will terminate the candidature of any student found to have gained admission through fraudulent means, and is enhancing its systems to verify credentials. <\/p>\n NTU will take disciplinary action against any students who breach its codes of conduct, including through falsification, fabrication and facilitating academic dishonesty. <\/p>\n NTU said it has previously invalidated applications containing falsified documents, adding that the number of fraudulent applications \u201cremains very low\u201d. <\/p>\n Both universities said they do not work with any study abroad agencies for admissions purposes.<\/p>\n NTU said applications for its coursework-based postgraduate programmes, which are popular with foreign students, have risen by about 30 per cent per year since 2023. The institution has received about 48,000 applications for postgraduate courses in 2025, NTU said. <\/p>\n In coursework-based postgraduate programmes, students follow a prescribed course of study comprising several courses, as opposed to postgraduate research programmes, which focus on independent, supervised research. <\/p>\n NUS also said in its advisory that it is seeing \u201cincreasingly intense competition\u201d in gaining admission to its postgraduate programmes.<\/p>\n In a post on its official account on social media app WeChat in January, NUS said any enrolled student or graduate found to have obtained admission through fraudulent means will have his student status or awarded degree revoked.<\/p>\n NUS said it conducts verification checks with universities and institutions awarding the academic qualifications. It added that it will be enhancing its systems with secure authentication software to verify credentials. <\/p>\n The university\u2019s website also states that when international applicants arrive in Singapore to enrol into NUS, they must bring along original copies of their identification, high school results and other documents that they submitted in their application.<\/p>\n According to its website, NUS reserves the right to expel students who fail to turn up for the verification of documents or provide required documents.<\/p>\n NTU said applicants who present overseas credentials must obtain an official verification report from one of its approved credential verification agencies. For universities from China, these include China Qualifications Verification and China Higher Education Student Information and Career Centre. <\/p>\n Applications found to contain falsified documents will be rejected, NTU said. <\/p>\n Observers said the <\/p>\n high-ranking of both universities<\/p>\n <\/a> is a contributing factor for fraudulent applications.<\/p>\n NUS kept its eighth place in the latest Britain-based Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 2026, released in June, while NTU rose three places to 12th. <\/p>\n Dr Jason Tan, an associate professor of policy, curriculum and leadership at the National Institute of Education, said academic fraud is a longstanding issue that is being made worse by technological advancements and an increasingly competitive job market. <\/p>\n He cited the admissions scandal in 2024 <\/p>\n at the <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n University of Hong Kong (HKU)<\/p>\n <\/a>, where more than 30 master\u2019s students were found to have forged academic qualifications to secure their places at HKU\u2019s business school.<\/p>\n According to Hong Kong daily The Standard, HKU has since affirmed its commitment to tackle admissions fraud, reporting cases of suspected fraud to the police.<\/p>\n Prof Tan said universities need to go beyond rejecting fraudulent applications, and send a strong message of deterrence to prospective applicants and fraudsters. <\/p>\n He said academic fraud threatens the legitimacy of genuine credentials, the reputation of the universities involved, and even Singapore\u2019s standing as an international academic hub.<\/p>\n The penalising of academic fraud should extend to the use of fake credentials in the workplace, he added. <\/p>\n<\/picture><\/div>