Crackdown begins on business use of ‘university’ title
China’s ministry of education and eight other government departments overseeing business affairs this month announced a crackdown on the use of the word ‘university’ or ‘college’ for training institutions founded by business enterprises. The institutions were ordered to “rectify” their names.
The move comes as prestigious institutions and business schools founded by prominent businessmen have come under scrutiny as part of investigations into their business dealings, coupled with a proliferation of unregistered and unlicensed institutions.
“Some training institutions founded by enterprises and social organisations fraudulently used ‘university’ and ‘college’ in their names to encourage enrolments and promote themselves without getting approval. That has led to public misunderstanding and disorder in the education sector,” a new guideline issued by the ministry said in its circular dated 13 May.
May 17, 2021
Alibaba founder Jack Ma attends a corporate event at the company s headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in this April 23, 2013.
Reuters
An elite business school created by Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, has quietly dropped all online references to “university” in a sign that the sought-after school may be adopting a lower profile.
The official Weibo account of Hupan University, which suspended new student recruitment after Alibaba-controlled Ant Group abruptly called off a mega initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong last November, changed its name to the Hupan Entrepreneurship Research Centre.
The official Hupan website was also updated with the new name, while its official account on WeChat, the social media platform run by Tencent Holdings, was changed from Hupan University to simply Hupan on Monday (May 17).