In October 2025, two of Hong Kong's most selective universities disclosed that they had turned away hundreds of applicants for the 2025/26 intake over forged credentials. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) found applications built on fake transcripts and on secondary schools that did not exist. A risky shortcut taken by some applicants has become a question of trust for admissions as a whole, and it is changing what universities want to see.
What HKU and CUHK found
According to the Hong Kong newspaper The Standard, HKU received hundreds of applications from non-local students suspected of using fraudulent qualifications, and none of them led to an offer. The university declared zero tolerance for breaches of academic integrity and promised new identity checks. CUHK rejected several hundred applicants on similar grounds, up from roughly ten cases the year before, and the South China Morning Post reported that its admissions staff now use AI tools alongside manual checks to confirm that each application is genuine.
The problem was not new. In July 2024, HKU Business School said it had found more than 30 master's students who had enrolled with falsified documents, and that the total could eventually reach 80 to 100.
From scores to evidence
CRI sees the scandal as a sign of a broader shift: admissions is moving its center of gravity from grades to evidence that can be trusted. Transcripts and certificates reduce a student to numbers. What increasingly matters is what the student actually learned, and how.
Leading universities in Hong Kong and Singapore started moving in this direction years ago, because a GPA or a test score cannot show everything a student is capable of. Most of their applications include a section for research, publications, or other academic work, where applicants describe the projects they took part in and what came of them. For example:
- HKU asks applicants to list any research papers or publications.
- The National University of Singapore (NUS) asks for academic achievements, including research projects and published work.
- CUHK has said publicly that research and publication records help an application.
