The so-called diploma mills are unaccredited institutions that enroll students in the name of higher education.

Sdaxue.com, a website that helps students choose universities and majors, recently included 73 fake colleges and universities in 16 provinces and regions in its listings. Of these, 66 were not on the list of higher education institutions released by the Ministry of Education, and the rest unlawfully used similar names to qualified colleges or the former names of these institutions, 23 were supposedly located in Beijing and seven in Shanghai.

Since 2013, more than 400 fake colleges have been exposed on Sdaxue.com.

Some students are deceived by the diploma mills and pay high tuition fees believing they are paying for a higher education. Other students, who know the colleges are fakes, still pay so they can get a diploma for the purpose of job-hunting, promotion or assessment.

The education and public security authorities are urged to pay attention to this phenomenon and take actions to crack down on fake colleges for the sake of the students as well as the society.