School officials punished over MBA exam fraud

High-ranking officials at a university in northeast China have received punishments over an MBA exam fraud scandal, the Heilongjiang provincial department of education said Monday.

Twenty students were found cheating on the exam on Jan 4 at the Harbin University of Science and Technology. They have been banned from sitting any national education exam in the next three years.

The university president was warned by the provincial commission for discipline inspection, and a vice president received a demerit, the provincial education department said.

Meanwhile, another five officials from different schools of the university received punishments ranging from dismissal to inner-Party warning.

Wang Haiyu, general office director of the university's MBA center, is suspected of crimes and remains under police investigation.

Recruitment for the university's MBA center for 2015 has been suspended.

Previously, nine suspects were arrested in February for "illegally obtaining State secrets" for their involvement in the case.