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▲At Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan students took the rare step of complaining about their supervisor. Photo: Handout- Supervisor dismissed after investigation which began with student allegations of fabricated data and manipulated peer reviews
- Whistle-blowers were ready to lose their diplomas but felt they had to act, despite power imbalance in China’s universities
“For us, this is the most important battle in our ordinary lives,” wrote doctoral student Zhang Li, in a post to social media platform Weibo on January 23.For more than a month, he and 10 other students at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, had been quietly preparing a “revolution” to overthrow their supervisor. On Tuesday, Huang Feiruo, a professor in HAZU’s department of animal nutrition and feed science, was dismissed after an investigation by the university confirmed some of the students’ accusations.HAZU found that 10 papers listing Huang as corresponding author contained falsified data, while a textbook he edited and published used other people’s content without attribution. The book has been suspended from use.He was also found to have misused funds and lacked due diligence as a tutor. All 15 students in his lab have been reassigned to new supervisors, according to HAZU.The decision to blow the whistle on Huang paid off, but such accusations are rare in China, where the power imbalance between students and their supervisors is marked.While there have been cases of students making complaints about their supervisors, they usually wait until after they graduate, given that the role includes the power to give a student’s dissertation the green light.The students’ campaign began on January 16, when a 125-page letter accusing Huang of academic misconduct and of encouraging students to cheat, was made public on various Chinese online platforms.Of the 15 students in Huang’s lab – three studying for PhDs and 12 master’s students – 11 signed the open letter. The Post contacted Huang for a response to the allegations, but he has not yet replied.Liu Xiaomeng, one of the whistle-blowers, wrote in a diary-style letter: “I’ve suffered many breakdowns and really couldn’t figure out how to graduate while staying upright.”She posted the letter on her social media account on January 17, saying that she was placed in a lab that lacked almost all essential research materials and equipment and that at one point she was abruptly given some data from an unknown source and asked to write a paper.
▲Professor Huang Feiruo has been dismissed from the department of animal nutrition and feed science at Huazhong Agricultural University after an investigation following allegations by some of his students. Photo: WeiboFan Xiudi, director of the Education Evaluation Research Centre at Tongji University in Shanghai, said that any student in China who spoke out against a tutor could end up hurting themselves, as “the university may downplay the scandal and the student will be left in isolation”.“Students have to take great risks and even bet on the future of their academic careers. This suggests that something is wrong with our entire academic environment,” she said.Four of the students – including Zhang – are due to graduate in June. But if they kept quiet about their concerns, they felt it was likely that they would have been asked to fabricate data in their dissertations.This was something they were unwilling to do and in the end, the students decided to stand up and say no, Zhang said.“We had worries about the possible consequences, but it had to be done. “We all prepared for the worst and were ready to even lose our diplomas and look for jobs in our hometowns,” he told the Post, in an interview before the university announced its decision.Add Wechat FLA5555 to ask to join the international students' wechat group.
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