A small New Jersey college has decided to close its China MBA program after finding evidence that students there engaged in rampant cheating.
Centenary College, a Hackettstown-NJ-based institution, ended its MBA program for Chinese-speaking students after finding “evidence of widespread plagiarism,” the school said in a statement posted on its website today. The China MBA program was based in Beijing, Shanghai, and Taiwan. All 400 students have been given the choice of accepting a tuition refund–as much as $1,400–or taking a comprehensive exam to earn a degree, The Star-Ledger reported.
According to the statement, all but two students have thus far decided to take a refund. Students have until July 30 to make a decision. It is also noted in the statement that students who cheat are ordinarily dismissed from the school, but the China MBA students are being given more leniency “in an effort to afford students every fair possibility.”
Centenary officials were unavailable for comment on Monday.
Donald McCabe, founder of the Center for Academic Integrity and professor of global business at Rutgers University, says that to his knowledge, no college has ever closed a program after identifying widespread cheating. But he also does not know of another school that has found 400 students who may have committed plagiarism.
Read the full article: MBA Program Withdraws From China Due to "Widespread Plagiarism," Other Issues