Fake degrees claim probed

HUNDREDS of Chinese students may have paid an average of €2,700 to buy their business studies degrees at the University of Toulon.

Public prosecutors and the Ministry of Education are already investigating the claims – and are spreading their inquiries to other universities in France.

The director of the business administration programme at the university, Pierre Gensse, has admitted in a bulletin to students that some Chinese students had approached him about paying for degrees.

He said one had even offered €100,000 in exchange for about a batch of 60 degrees for Chinese students.

University vice-principal Pierre Sanz de Alba said he found the scandal hard to believe, however, prosecutors in Marseille have opened an inquiry into possible corruption and fraud.

Education Ministry investigators are also examining claims implicating universities in Pau, La Rochelle, Poiters and in Paris.