China has set up a special commission to monitor academic fraud and plagiarism in higher-learning institutes, following a series of academic scandals in recent months, the Ministry of Education said yesterday in Beijing.
Established on Tuesday, the commission is responsible for setting guidelines for colleges and universities to curb academic fraud, and specify punishment for people involved. It will draw experiences from other countries, said commission Director Zhang Qizhi.
"The commission, however, mainly functions as an consultative and directive organization under the Ministry at present," Yuan Zhenguo, deputy director with the Ministry's social science department, told a press conference.
Academic fraud came to light with exposure of several recent scandals at  top universities.
Earlier this month, Chen Jin, a dean at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was fired for his faked research on the Hanxin digital signal processing chip, a state-funded program.
In late April, Yang Jie, former director of the Life Science and Technology Institute, was fired from the prestigious Tongji University in Shanghai after a forgery was found on his academic record.
Liu Hui, a professor at Beijing-based Tsinghua University, was removed from his post in March for faking academic and work records.