A mainland Chinese student has been sentenced to three months in jail for using a forged academic record to gain admission into the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
The Sha Tin Court delivered the ruling on Tuesday after Bao Junyang, 30, pleaded guilty to obtaining services by deception.
Prosecutors decided to drop a second charge related to making a false statement for an immigration entry permit.
Bao, a former aircraft technician, secured a spot in CUHK’s Master of Business Administration programme for the 2023/24 academic year by submitting a fake transcript that falsely claimed he had earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University.
The university launched an internal investigation in April 2024 when his academic performance did not meet expected standards.
Four months later, police took over the case after CUHK confirmed that Bao had never studied at New York University.
Investigations revealed that he had hired an impersonator through an agent in mainland China to pass an online interview and obtain a conditional admission offer from CUHK.
Authorities also discovered that the forged transcript contained an incorrect university identification number.
CUHK expelled Bao on September 2, 2024, and immigration officers arrested him two weeks later at the Lok Ma Chau control point when he returned from mainland China.
During questioning, he admitted he did not hold any bachelor’s degree and had only completed an aviation certificate in Canada.
He remained silent when police questioned him again after his arrest.
In court, Bao’s lawyer pointed out that he had no prior criminal record in Hong Kong and had support from his parents.
The judge initially considered a sentence of four and a half months but reduced it to three months due to his guilty plea.