Almost 50 students have been thrown out of the university

Dozens of foreign students have been
told to leave Newcastle University after the certificates they used to
gain entry were found to be forged.
    

Most of the 49 Chinese students, along with one Taiwanese pupil,
had enrolled on business studies courses which they started in
September.

But lecturers became suspicious when they were unable to keep up with work.

Their applications were rechecked and forged English language and degree certificates were discovered.

The forgeries, mainly certificates for English
language qualifications or degrees awarded by other universities, were
of such high quality that they had not been detected by the usual
checks.

We would strongly advise other universities to look very carefully at the systems they have in place to detect fraudulent applications                                                                                                                          Newcastle University

They have all been handed to the police and the Home Office has also been informed.

Newcastle University said many of the students appeared to be
victims of bogus agents based either in China or the UK and who were
paid to submit applications, including supporting documents, on their
behalf.

However, it was necessary to exclude them to protect the
interests of hundreds of properly qualified students, and the
reputation of the university.

A number of changes to admissions procedures will now be made,
including publishing a list of approved agents on the university's
website.

A University spokesman: "We would strongly advise other
universities to look very carefully at the systems they have in place
to detect fraudulent applications and to strengthen them if necessary.

"At Newcastle we have a team of people who are experienced at
assessing applications, though we recognise that fraud can be very
difficult to identify regardless of the systems in place.

"The nature of fraud changes over time so we are alert to the
possibility of new avenues, and adjust our procedures accordingly."