Tongji University has fired Yang Jie, its former dean of the Life Science and Technology Institute, from his current positions as professor and researcher after an investigation showed that he had faked academic qualifications on his resume, Shanghai media reported today.

In March, the university removed Yang from the position of dean of the university's Life Science and Technology Institute because of his poor administrative management performance, but Yang continued to work as a professor and researcher on campus.

Later, an investigation showed that Yang lied to be the major author of a paper published in the magazine "Lung Cancer," when applying for PhD qualification in March 2005 and also when competing for a professorship in July 2005. In March 2006, he listed other's achievements as his own research to apply for national funds.

Tongji announced yesterday that it has ended the three-year work contract with Yang and removed him from his job as professor.

Yang was appointed as one of the eight new deans by Tongji in September 2004 after the university launched a global recruitment drive in 2003.

China has set up a special commission to monitor academic fraud and plagiarism in higher-learning institutes, following a series of academic scandals in recent months.

In May, Chen Jin, a dean at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was fired for faking research on the Hanxin digital signal processing chip, a state-funded program.

Liu Hui, a professor at Beijing's Tsinghua University, was removed from his post in March for faking academic and work records.

(Shanghai Daily June 22, 2006)