It has become a tradition among wealthy parents of children who fail to obtain the required score in China's national college entrance exam to enter a university of their choice to pay for them to study abroad.

Over the past 10 years, this has developed into such a lucrative market for some Western universities that they are willing to come to China and take part in educational exhibitions and conduct recruitment drives. Even US President Barack Obama promoted the virtues of American universities during his recent visit to China.

With so much money and expectations at stake, it is not surprising that there are many opportunities for the dishonest and the less than honest to exploit the situation for their own financial gain, especially when they know the average Chinese student is trusting and, it has to be said, innocent.

Furthermore, the education most of these students have received in China may equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to pass provincial university exams. But it doesn't give them the skills they need to make such important decisions as which country and in what particular university is it realistic to complete their university studies.

Many children and their parents seem unaware that in English-speaking countries like Australia, the US and the UK, the governments do not guide, advise and try to protect their citizens as is the case in China. In the West, you are supposed to make your own judgment of what is good, bad or indifferent and what may or may not benefit you or your children the most.

In short, in most Western countries you and only you can be held accountable for the decisions you make because responsibility is the other side of freedom.

As a result, governments in most Western countries only really intervene when someone breaks the law or creates disadvantages for a large number of people. Such a situation occurred in Australia recently when more than a 1,000 Chinese and 2,000 Indian students were left stranded after four schools, owned and administered by private education provider Global Campus Management Group (GCMG), were shut down.

Like other similar organizations, GCMG was set up only to exploit the lucrative overseas student market and not to serve the local community. But scams start well before students reach Australia, the UK or the US. The scams start right here in China with those registered as education agents and in many middle-to-lower ranking provincial colleges and universities where students who have demonstrated little academic ability are more than encouraged by their ambitious parents to study abroad to get a university degree.

From my experience, most of these colleges and universities are well aware that their students are not equipped or do not have the ability to succeed at the most prestigious educational establishments in the West such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But having little understanding of the West and the education system in these countries, the parents and their children both equate virtually any British or American university with these prestigious institutions.

Like the extremes of poverty and wealth in these countries, there are excellent and very poor universities in the West. The excellent universities need no promotion, hire no agents and have little reason to undertake recruitment drives in China because they will always meet their enrolment quotas owing to the high demand. It is the not-so-good to mediocre colleges and universities in the US and the UK, in particular, which need to hire agents and offer them good commissions in order to get Chinese students to pay their fees.

Not only do virtually all education agents in China recommend that parents enroll their children in these mediocre universities, but also many Chinese universities give their students no other choice for two reasons.

First, they receive better commissions from these institutions than from the more prestigious colleges and universities that, in some cases, give none at all. Second, they know that their students lack the ability and that they themselves don't have the teaching skills to prepare them for entry into the more elite Western universities. But they do realize that their students are good enough to complete their studies in an average or low-ranking Western university like their own.

In many cases, the students may receive just as good if not better education in China as in some of the universities they end up going to in the US or the UK. These American and British universities have such a low reputation that they attract very few local students and have to rely on enrolments from China, India and other Asian countries to stay in business.

The best way to recognize whether any of these private colleges are of dubious quality or even exist at all is to check whether they advertise only in the Chinese-language press. The British Council and the embassies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand have a list of accredited schools, colleges and universities, and it is advisable to contact the appropriate embassy or consulate if parents or students have any doubts.

Any college or language school not on their lists is almost certain to be sub-standard at best and may not even exist at worst. Such institutions are set up to lure unsuspecting Chinese and Indian students into coughing up exorbitant amounts as tuition and other charges.

The author has taught and conducted research at the universities of New South Wales, Wollongong and Newcastle and been a consultant for the East Asia Analytical Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Commonwealth Government of Australia.

(China Daily 11/25/2009 page9)