Mainland Chinese university student gets 3 months for faking English test results to graduate

2026-02-02 - 11:37

A mainland Chinese student has been jailed for three months after using fake results for an English language test to meet a graduation requirement at Lingnan University. Hong Kong’s Lingnan University in May 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Huang Xinyi, currently a master’s student at Hong Kong Baptist University, appeared at the Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts on Monday morning to receive her sentence, after pleading guilty last month to attempting to obtain services by deception. According to local media, Huang began studying a two-year undergraduate course in public management and governance at Lingnan University in September 2022. The university requires students to have attained a minimum grade in an English proficiency test, either TOEFL or IELTS, to graduate. Huang emailed the school her TOEFL results in May 2024. University staff found that the photo on the TOEFL report card and Huang’s appearance did not match, and arranged a meeting with her. During the meeting, Huang said she went to Cambodia to take the TOEFL in May that year. She claimed the photo on the report card was hers, but that she had edited the photo as she did not think she looked good. Tuen Mun Law Courts Building. Photo: WikiCommons. The school then contacted the TOEFL examination board and discovered she did not tell the truth. After that, Huang admitted to the school that she had hired somebody to take the test for her. The defendant was 22 when she was charged last year. Handing down the three-month jail term on Monday, Magistrate David Chum said the offence was serious and required a deterrent sentence. During mitigation in January, her lawyer said Huang had longed to study in Hong Kong, but had failed four times to achieve the required results in the English proficiency test, local media reported. Her lawyer said Huang learned the test was easier in Cambodia, so she flew there to take it. But when she arrived at the examination centre, she was unwell and accepted a stranger’s suggestion to arrange for someone to take the test in her place, local media added. Huang had already been punished with community service by Lingnan University, her lawyer added. The lawyer also said the student had achieved results that met graduation requirements upon her fifth time taking the test.