The Ministry of Education criticized a private university's advertisement in which it called itself "one of the top 10 universities in China," ministry spokesperson Wang Xumin said recently.

The advertisement for the Xi'an Fanyi University appeared in an October issue of the Los Angeles Times, and was quoted by some Chinese newspapers as a news story.

The advertisement claimed the foreign language university had been listed as one of the top 10 Chinese universities by the so-called "U.S.A. Fifty States Higher Education Union."

The "union" did not exist, said Wang.

In the advertisement, the "Education Union" also listed the university head Ding Zuyi as one of the top 10 university heads in China.

Ding, a former official with another Xi'an-based university, established the Xi'an Fanyi University in 1987. The university claims to have more than 30,000 students and charges 6,800 yuan (US$829) to 8,300 yuan a year.

Fang Zhouzi, well known for exposing academic fraud, said the "Education Union" was a company registered by overseas Chinese He Yumin. The company was registered May 26, 2004, at He's home. It took the company only five days to complete the "survey" for the ranking, said Fang Zhouzi.

The school also claimed to be the first "model private university in China." The ministry spokesperson said the ministry never bestowed such a title.

The Xi'an Fanyi University published the "ranking" on its Web site. The information about the university is reproduced here, complete with mistakes, exactly as it appeared on the Web site:

"After a survey of American colleges, Professor Ding Zuyi, the president of Xi-an Fanyi University is acknowledged to be the venerable president of college run by the local people in China."

The paragraph was full of non-standard English and improper style, said Fang Zhouzi.

(Shenzhen Daily January 5, 2005)