A Dean Lost His Job For Being Not Quite A Ph. D. (And Lied About It)

Last year, a netter with a pseudonym "woodpecker" reported on New Threads that the dean of the College of Environmental Science and Technology in Taiyuan University of Technology (太原理工大学) had fabricated his degree.

Professor Wang Zengzhang (王增长) had studied at the Helsinki University of Technology in Finland from 1994 to 2002. Upon his return, he told his colleagues that he had earned a doctoral degree there. But he never produced a certificate or thesis. According to the report by "woodpecker", someone called the school in Finland and found that Professor Wang actually only earned a Licentiate degree, half way between a Master and a Ph. D.

More than half a year later, another netter reported on New Threads that Taiyuan University of Technology had verified the claim. It stripped Professor Wang's position as a dean and his license to advice Ph. D. students. There was no mention whether he continues to teach in the university.