SHARE
COPY LINK

CHINA

Chinese students cheated over college fees

Several Chinese students have paid the equivalent of 20,000 to 30,000 kronor ($3,300 to $5,000) to agencies in China to attend the University of Gävle, despite the fact that the education is free of charge.

According to the Arbertarbladet newspaper, last winter a Chinese woman learned she would be admitted to a master’s program at the university, irrespective of entrance requirements, if she paid 33,000 yuan (currently equivalent to 28,600 kronor) to a Beijing-based agency.

The university had earlier referred to the agency on its website, but the link is no longer there.

The newspaper claims that Chinese students rarely receive any information about the money they pay goes and almost never receive a receipt.

When the paper on Monday checked with two agencies in China mentioned on the university’s website, it was told that the agencies’ services would cost about 35,000 yuan (about 30,000 kronor).

The agency explained that the money is used to cover costs associated with acquiring a visa, arranging housing in Gävle, transportation from Arlanda to Gävle and other items which the University of Gävle offers free of charge.

One of the agencies contacted by Arbetarbladet told the paper that the Swedish university received a portion of the income, something the school’s leadership denies.

University of Gävle head Leif Svensson told the paper that the school plans to look into the matter and carry out its own investigation.

“If this is true then we’ve been deceived and kept in the dark,” he said to Arbetarbladet.

For members

EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

SHOW COMMENTS